


You can't Fool your Own Heart

by iseemikimouse



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Angst, Blood Drinking, Blood and Gore, Character Death, Gods and Goddesses, Happy Ending, I'm Sorry, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Major Character Injury, This is a vampire au, Wolf!AU, amnesic character, immortal character, mentions of magic, references to Greek mythology, there's no smut in this but it seems like a couple of moments might be, vampire!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2020-12-23 22:54:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 43,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21089138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iseemikimouse/pseuds/iseemikimouse
Summary: When Chan wakes up, there are things he wants to know (like who he is and what he is), but most importantly, he wants to know why this man with blue eyes looks familiar and why he wants to cry every time he sees him.





	1. [ P R O L O G U E ]

**Author's Note:**

> hi. hello. 
> 
> well............. i don't even know what to say. this fic took me a really long time (thank you to the mods for allowing me an extension. y'all are the best.) and a lot screaming. isn't life wonderful when at the VERY last minute, your brain says, "oh let's REWRITE this ENTIRE thing?" because that's what happened to me. i mean, what can you do when your prompt is "person a is a vampire, something happens that sends him to a place where werewolves live, where he meets person B (werewolf). chaos ensues." i'm sorry dear prompter if this is not what you had in mind, but i really tried and... well.. THIS happened. 
> 
> many hours of sleep was sacrificed for this and my gf tells me that she's going to sue me if i don't sleep. 
> 
> so i really hope that you enjoy this fic in all of it's horribleness because it's so very rushed. and because it's rushed, i know there are mistakes, so please pardon them and /try/ to ignore them. i've looked over it a couple of times and i couldn't find anything but there's bound to be something. 
> 
> anyways, enjoy! 
> 
> ps. thank you to the mods for creating this fest. i had a lot of fun despite all the screaming i've done with this fic.

Yoohyeon plays with her fingers as she sits inside of the police station. It’s been awhile since she had last visited a place where humans resided and worked but she mainly blamed that on her father. Her father was... no not was, he _is_ someone who has been wary of humans and that wariness has passed on to her. 

And her father is the reason why she’s sitting inside of an old police station with the paint peeling off the walls. He’s the reason why she’s trying not to pull the skin off her fingertips as she tries to locate her missing father. 

She tries not to think of anything negative, wanting to keep a positive image of the man (is he considered a man?) who raised them. He found them when they were no more than three years old after their parents had died in a raid many years ago. Yoohyeon and her brother were the only survivors.

This man was the one who held Yoohyeon’s hand when she had her nightmares, and the one who would stay awake until Jongho would return from his nightly adventures. He is the one that she owes her life too and she’s going to be damned if these people aren’t going to help her. 

She inhales, holding her breath for a couple of moments before exhaling slowly. 

“Bang Yoohyeon,” someone calls out, taking the said girl out of her thoughts. She snaps her head and looks towards the stout man with a receding hairline. His dark eyes bore into hers, almost like he was trying to communicate with her in a way she wasn’t comfortable. He pats his stomach and lifts the corner of his lips. “I was told you had a question for one of the Task Forces.” 

“Yes,” Yoohyeon says raising a brow. She glances to the door and wonders how long it would take for her to make it. Not long she supposes but her father raised her better than that. “My brother and I are looking for someone and I wasn’t sure if it would be best to ask here or not. He’s been missing for a couple of months and we’ve been going around seeing if he’s been spotted anywhere.” 

“And you haven’t declared him missing?” 

Yoohyeon bites her lip and looks to the side. “We have but there hasn’t been a good result so we’ve taken the matter in our own hands. We can’t just leave our father out in the world.”

The cop raises a brow. “A supernatural raising humans?” 

Human? Bang Yoohyeon _human_? She hasn’t been human since the early 900s. Mentally, she scoffs at the thought and slams this man’s face into the ground. But instead of acting on her dark side, she smiles at the man. 

“Yes. He took care of us very carefully,” she lies. 

The cop raises a brow and beckons Yoohyeon to follow him. And she does. She passes messy desks, filled with mass amounts of papers stacked to one side and books to the other. Men and women sit at them, none of them sparing a glance to the teenager walking in front of them. Instead, they keep their heads down as they look at their paperwork and other important things. 

The man sits at his desk and places his hand on top, before motioning Yoohyeon to sit. She does so as politely as she can, without offending the human man. 

“Is there anything you can tell me?” he asks. 

Yoohyeon nods before looking down at her hands. “We were at home, one day, and people rushed in. We were so startled that they knocked my brother and me unconscious. By the time we woke up, our father was gone and we’ve been looking all over since.” The man looks at her with pity as he writes down the information he gives her. “You can file a missing persons report but like I said, we’ve already done that and the laws regarding the supernatural aren’t as strict with their safety.” 

Gods, she hopes that she can play this right. 

“I am so very sorry to hear that,” the police officer says. “What is your father’s name and we can ask the different stations if they have seen him.” 

“Chan,” she says pursing her lips. “His name is Bang Chan.” 

Their conversation doesn’t last much longer than that, the officer asking a few more questions. She leaves the police station with little hope that the human law enforcement will actually do something. It’s the reason why she hated coming to the big cities. They were never helpful. 

Hopping onto one of the buses, Yoohyeon takes it the farthest it can go. She pays no attention to the sleazy man who keeps looking towards her with eyes that she wants to gauge out. It’s only when he tries to sit next to her that she flashes her fangs quickly that he stops. He doesn’t bother her again. 

Once she’s off and the disgusting man behind her, she saunters farther down and into an abandoned lot. The buildings are high and completely gutted, mere shells of what they used to be. She had to pick this place because Jongho would have done nothing to save what little money they currently had without drawing the attention of their aunts and uncles. Gods forbid they actually learned of what happened. That would be hell on earth for all of them. 

She enters the building with the feeling of someone watching her. She rolls her eyes. 

Nature has begun to reclaim the building with grass and other plants growing inside. The concrete of the building looks broken in many places, long cracks in almost every angle. If Yoohyeon is being honest with herself, it looks like the building would be collapsing any day now from any little wind.

Every time she takes a step, the sound of her shoes clack against the floor, the sound loud and obnoxious. She climbs the stairs wincing every time she had to jump from step to step because it’s too loud for her. 

“Jong?” she calls when she reaches the top floor. “Are you here?” 

Someone snorts. “No.” 

“If you weren’t here, then why are you talking to me?” 

“I’m a ghost.”

“You’re a vampire.” 

“I can still be a ghost.” 

Yoohyeon sighs. “You’re dumb.” 

“_You’re_ dumb,” Jongho retorts. 

“Fuck you.” 

“I rather not.” 

“Oh for fucks sake.” 

Something clatters behind her but she doesn’t turn around. Instead she continues to the window and stares out. Arms wrap around her torso causing her to melt in the embrace of her brother. He buries his face into her neck and breathes for a couple of seconds before biting down sinking his fangs in. 

She doesn’t move as he feeds, only patting his hand around his waist. 

Was it traditional for vampire families to feed off each other? Not really but Bang Yoohyeon’s family is far from traditional, considering who her family is. 

“I found nothing,” she whispers. “They know nothing.” 

Jongho releases her neck with a pop, licking a stripe against her throat to close the wounds but he doesn’t move. Instead, he rests his chin on her shoulder and looks out along with her. 

“Do humans ever know anything?” 

“No.” 

Jongho laughs for a quiet moment. It’s times like these that Yoohyeon wishes she could read into people’s minds, especially her siblings. She knows that Jongho has taken to their father’s disappearance really hard, questioning everyone’s motives and becoming clinger to her than ever before. But she too is clinging to her brother, wanting moments of comfort because this is very hard. 

So very hard. 

She opens her mouth to say something but a strangled gasp comes out instead. She forces her eyes closed and sees yellow and closed flowers. She sees blue eyes and her father’s crystal eyes before everything turns gold. 

Her eyes snap open. 

Jongho is still holding her up, his fingers moving in a circular motion. 

“What does gold mean?” she asks. “Because I saw gold, blue, and yellow but then there were white flowers.” 

“Was here there?” 

“Yes. Yes he was.” 

“How did-” 

“He looked the same,” she whispers. “I think he’s… waiting?”

Jongho is silent for a moment. “Where?” 

“I don’t know.” 

He hums. “Well let’s find him then.” 


	2. [ O N E ]

Chan smiles when he looks at the faceless man (at least he thinks it’s a man. He has a masculine built) standing in front of him. He reaches out, and threads his fingers through the soft coffee locks. He tries to look at the man’s face but there’s nothing there, just a smooth plain of skin. It’s frightening but, he’s grown used to it. 

“Come here, ------,” he says, his voice soft. 

The head tilts up enough that Chan believes that there’s a smile on the man’s face. 

He feels someone touch his shoulder and he’s greeted with long grey hair curled around another faceless person, only this time, Chan believes this faceless person to be a woman. She touches Chan’s face like she can’t believe him to actually be there before burying her head into Chan’s chest. 

Chan is confused. 

He doesn’t know this woman but he wants to coddle her and protect her. He wants to punch tear apart anyone who thinks about hurt the man in front of him but the same thing remains for him. He doesn’t know who these people are. 

In his head, he has names for them (at least, maybe) but they don’t want to come out. His vocal cords don’t want to form the proper syllables and if they do, then they don’t make sense. 

He wants to cry but he can’t. He physically can’t cry so instead, he holds the two people in front of them tightly, and promises himself that he’ll never let them. Silently, he promises them the world and promises them that he’ll never hurt them.

Chan closes his eyes and then opens them. 

What greets him isn’t the same beautiful trees and a clear sky, it’s the same boring white walls that he’s been staring at for the past three weeks. He’s been thrown into this room since he woke up not remembering anything other than his name. The moments after that was enough for him to want to cower in fear at everything going on but he couldn’t, at least not then. But now that he has his own room and it seems that he’s not being deemed a threat, he can hide himself in this room for as long as he wants. 

It’s not healthy for him to be hiding, he knows this, but he’s scared of the people outside of his room because of the shifting eyes colors and growls that he hears once in a while. Normally, he’ll hear laughter and people talking but then it’s suddenly filled with howls and voices talking so low that it’s a wonder why Chan can hear it. 

The people here do bring him food and ask him to come out, but Chan’s fear of these people overtakes everything. Lady Hestia knows that maybe he’ll see the man who kept punching him in the gut and he doesn’t want that. 

Chan curls around his blanket (is it really his?) and stares at the door. His mind goes back to the dream he had but the moment he tries to remember the faces of the two, he’s hit with those odd faceless people. He thinks of how the woman’s hair feels in between his fingers but his mind supplies nothing helpful. Instead, everything just fades into the back of his mind, like nothing. 

He sighs and finds himself sinking further into the cloud that is the mattress. The room that he’s in isn’t much. It’s a simple white room, with a closet to the left and a window to the right. A plain bedside table sits to the side that houses his clock and a tray food when he gets one. A single chair sits in one of the corners but it’s not always there. 

He glances to the clock. 

10:29 am. 

_He’s _almost going to come. 

Chan watches the red numbers change and like clockwork, there’s a knock at his door. He doesn’t have to say anything for the door to open and a man to walk in balancing a food in one hand, and a drink in another. He smiles at Chan, the harsh features on his softening significantly. 

“Hello Chan,” says the man, Changbin, as he sets the plate of food on the table. “We have pancakes and eggs this morning. Chaeyoung has been cooking like crazy. I don’t know why though.”

Chan doesn’t say anything and only stares at Changbin. He takes in the sight of shorter man, beautiful blue eyes that look well on their way to becoming the same crystal clear like Chan’s. He’s leaner and built more like an athlete than Chan is which always causes him to roll his eyes but look at himself, wondering if he can somewhat look like that. But he pushes away the thought. 

He takes in a deep breath and begins to wonder once again why he feels at ease with this man. Was it the aura that surrounded him or was it something else? And the fact that he couldn’t figure out why is starting to drive him crazy.

Slowly, he unwraps himself from his covers as Changbin patiently waits for the other to emerge. He only smiles at Chan when he sits criss cross on the bed. Changbin hands Chan his plate and waits for Chan to take his first bite. 

“So last night,” Changbin begins, his whole face lighting up.

Chan listens to the events that Changbin has deemed important for him to listen to. It’s odd because Chan won’t come out of this room in fear, but he’ll let one of the people that he’s scared of into a place that he has deemed safe. It doesn’t make sense but then again, there’s something about Changbin that Chan can’t figure out. 

_Changbin has a nice voice,_ he finds himself thinking again but like always, he shakes his head at the thought and shovels more food into his mouth. 

Changbin chuckles, his blue eyes crinkling in the corners. 

“You know, Bang Chan,” Changbin hums. “The others are wondering if you’ll ever come out of here. They won’t hurt you.”

Chan pauses. 

“They’ve grown used to your presence,” Changbin continues. “And I’m sure everything will be fine.”

Chan shakes his head and looks to the plate of half eaten food. The flavors taste odd on his tongue, like he shouldn’t be eating this but he’s hungry and he has to eat something. He takes another bite, still not being able to figure out what’s missing from his food.

“Is it good?” Changbin asks. 

Chan swallows. “It’s missing something,” he mumbles under his breath. “I don’t know what but it’s missing something.”

Changbin’s eyebrows shoot up at the sound of Chan’s voice, and who's to blame him. Chan’s kept silent all of the other times that Changbin has been coming in here and maybe, just maybe, Chan wanted to see what the other’s reaction would be if he spoke. 

“It’s, it’s missing something?” 

“Yes,” Chan says again, putting his utensils down. “But again, I don’t know what.” 

Changbin looks thoughtful for a moment. “Like a spice? Or?” 

Chan shakes his head causing Changbin to pout. Chan feels his heartbeat quicken. 

“Hmm…” Something passes through Changbin’s eyes. He blinks a couple of times before setting his blue eyes straight on Chan. The look unnerves him and he wants to look away but Chan holds the gaze, waiting for Changbin to say something. “Iron?” 

Iron?

What a funny thing to say. Why would a meal be missing iron? 

Chan looks back down to his plate and pauses. That actually… seems to be correct. The food is missing more iron. More of a heavy substance that would sustain him. 

And there’s that feeling again. 

The one that’s been haunting since the day he woke in the cellar of this house. That feeling that he’s forgetting something very important. Something to do with the fact that he was strung up like a slaughtered animal with his blood flowing out of his wounds or even the fact that sometimes his gums hurt. Something is missing, but he doesn’t know what. 

But like everything else, Chan pushes that feeling away. He can’t continue to think about things that he doesn’t know. It’s only going to bring more questions than answers and maybe this time, getting the answers that he wants is a good thing. It’s going to keep him out of trouble… at least that’s what he believes. 

“Was I right?” Changbin asks. “Is it iron?” 

Chan looks to Changbin and reads the other’s eyes. There’s a little apprehension in there that wasn’t there before which scares Chan just a little. It almost looks like Changbin is waiting for Chan to say yes, that he’s correct but then it feels like everything will go downhill from there. The nice times that Chan has with Changbin will be gone and something else will be there. Something far more sinister than Chan has experienced. 

So with a small smile and a shake of his head, Chan lies. 

“I just don’t know what it is,” Chan says. “I’ll figure it out one day.” 

Once again, Changbin look taken aback that Chan is actually answering his questions. The smile comes back on his face and the apprehension that was there on his face, is no longer there. His eyes look relieved. 

“I see. Well when you figure it out, let me know?”

Chan nods and finishes his plate, handing it back to Changbin. He stays sitting on the bed, questions wanting to spill from his lips, but the revelation that his food is missing iron has him taking a couple of steps back into himself. What does iron have to do with the fact that something is missing from himself? 

“Will you come out today?” Changbin questions. 

Chan shrugs his shoulders and dazes off, looking at the space in between the side table and his wall. He pretends that he doesn’t hear Changbin sigh as he stands up. He also doesn’t look at the other to see the disappointed look he gives him. That look can be for another time, just not now. 

Changbin gets up from the chair, placing the plate on top of it, dragging it back to the corner of the room. As he does this, one question forms in Chan’s mind, a question that he might get an answer to. It takes him a moment to gather the courage to ask it. He takes a deep breath and looks at Changbin’s back as he heads towards the door to do whatever Changbin does. 

“If I answered yes,” Chan questions, “to your question, what would have happened?” 

Changbin freezes at Chan’s question and doesn’t turn around. He doesn’t move and just keeps his hand above the door handle with his other holding Chan’s dirty dish. 

“I don’t know,” Changbin answers, “but it wouldn’t be anything good.”

_Anything good?_

Changbin leaves with Chan wanting to ask more questions, but he knows that he shouldn’t. Maybe he can figure out why on his own. That thought, though, is enough to send shivers down his spine. He would have to come out of the only place in this godforsaken house that he feels safe in. He doesn’t want to leave the comfort of the room but Chan is curious. He’s curious to know what’s missing and why he was treated the way that he was. 

He glances at the clock. 

11:15 am.

He’ll give himself a time limit. Fifteen minutes and he’ll leave the room in search for answers. 

Stepping out of the bed, he looks through the drawers in order to make a plan. He needs to be able to avoid the rest of the household and he’ll be fine, right? So maybe he needs to wear something dark in order to conceal himself. Maybe that might work. 

As he shuffles through the clothes, he feels slightly bad because they’re not his and he’s messing them up. Do the people who actually own these clothes miss them? Is that a thing, missing your clothes when you don’t have them? Maybe he should give some of them back. Maybe some of them have sentimental value to them but then again, why would they give him something that has an important meaning? 

Chan shakes his head. He’s getting too far into his thoughts again. 

He looks to the clock again and takes a deep breath. 

11:25 am.

There’s still time. 

He takes a couple of breathes, his heart pounding. Placing his hand against his chest, he can feel the pounding of his heart thumping softly. He takes a couple more steps towards the door, ready to venture out into the world. 

Maybe. 

11: 30 am. 

Opening the door, he looks right and left to see nothing but hallway. It’s bright and white, much like his room with a couple of pictures littering the hall. He takes a step out of his room and turns right, the same direction he always hears Changbin walk towards when he leaves. 

There’s not a single soul in the hallways, most of the noises coming from outside. He deems it safe to continue on.

He passes so many doors the way that he begins to lose count. Voices come from inside of some but no one peeks out to say anything to him. He kind of guessed that the house was massive but from walking through the hallways, he’s figuring out that the home is much larger than he thought. 

The hall empties into a living room of sorts complete with couches pushed against the wall, a TV, and an air hockey table? (Is that what the massive table in the middle with two round looking things?) Much like the little part of the house he’s been in, the room is white but there’s a little color with some of the trim being bright blue. Light filters in through the single window in the corner of the room and maybe that's a good place to go and see what a different part of the backyard is like. 

He walks carefully, not wanting to bump into something that causes too many noises. With a small smile, he makes it to the window and looks out. From this angle he sees how large the yard is as it looks like a field. It’s void of anything on the grass but has flowers blooming at the edge. The edge of the yard isn’t fenced but there’s a hoard of trees, like the house is in the middle of a forest. All he can see are the green tops of trees for miles and miles, the vague skyline of the nearby town too far for him to see it properly. 

His attention gets taken by a group of people in one of the corners. They all stand to the side and facing the open yard. Chan leans against the window and watches as they run a couple of drills, wondering what they are for. There’s no sports equipment so he knows they are not in some kind of sports team but there’s a lot of them which leaves him slightly confused. 

One of the men leading the group walks back and forth in front of them, his voice loud enough for Chan to make out that they are talking but not loud enough to hear what he’s saying. 

And then it happens. 

A teenager who looks no older than he does takes a step forward before sprinting across the yard. All is normal and the same until fur starts sprouting from his body. His clothes begin to rip as the boy grows and grows. A tail sprouts from his backside and suddenly there’s not a teenage boy standing in the middle of the field. It’s a massive wolf who tilts his head and begins to howl. 

Startled, Chan takes a step back and just stares before turning on his heel, his mind yelling nope, nope, and fuck no. 

Changbin comes back to Chan’s room at around 3 pm with a snack of apples and oranges. He smiles kindly to Chan who pulls him into the room and slams the door shut. Changbin blinks a couple of times, surprise written all over his features. 

“Ch-” 

“There’s a wolf,” he says. “A massive grey wolf that was once human. I swear to you that he was a human boy before he turned? Shifted? I don’t know?” 

Chan pants as he explains, waving his hands in the air without a care in the world. He knows he isn’t going crazy because he peeked out of his window and tried to see the corner only to see massive wolves roaming around the backyard. His heart nearly leaped out his chest when they started fighting because those teeth and those _fangs_ were massive and could most likely eat him whole. 

“I’m not crazy,” Chan says. “There was so many of them and Changbin what the fuck is going on? Are these people some kind of mutants or something? This an experiment gone wrong and this house is protecting them from evil?” he stops and stares at Changbin with wide eyes. “Are you one of them?” 

Changbin blinks a couple of times, seemingly to take in the words coming from Chan’s mouth. He waits a few seconds before bursting out into laughter, his eyes crinkling into crescent moons. 

The sound of laughter forces a blush to rise to Chan’s cheeks because he did sound ridiculous but please. Seeing giant wolves roaming outside of his window and the living room window is something that he needs answers to. 

But the sound of Changbin laughing like he is melts Chan’s heart. There are tears prickling in his eyes like it’s a sound that he’s been missing for a long time. He has this want to wrap his arms around Changbin and hold him close and press soft kisses against his cheeks. He wants to poke Changbin’s cheeks and compare them out loud to something soft and make them turn red. 

Chan shakes his head. 

He doesn’t know this person, what the _fuck_? 

He crosses his arms over his chest and just stares at Changbin while the other double over with laughter. The sound and sheer volume is enough for other people to listen in and that’s not something Chan wants, currently. He just wants to figure out what is _happening_ here.

“Hush, Changbin! I don’t want the others to find out!” Chan whisper shouts.

Changbin giggles. “You’re fine Chan,” Changbin says after a moment. “I promise that you’re fine.”

“Then what?”

“I think you need to sit down for this,” Changbin says catching his breath and smiling softly at Chan. “There’s a lot of information I’m about to give you.”

Chan blinks a couple of times before sitting on the edge of the bed. He raises a brow when Changbin pulls his chair from the corner and sets in right in front of him. The mirth that leaves Changbin’s eyes tells Chan that this is a serious subject and should not be taken lightly. He places his hands on his lap and eyes Changbin as the other gathers himself.

“First of all, you’re not crazy,” Changbin starts. “What you saw was training for the younger wolves.”

“Training?”

“Yes. You see Bang Chan, humans aren’t the only creatures that walk this earth. There’s an entire underground of creatures. Well six main ones. Others have deviated from the originals like the brownies and the hobbits but the main six have remained.”

Chan stares at Changbin like he’s gone nuts… but somehow he believes the words coming out of Changbin’s mouth. It’s not just the fact that he saw a massive wolf, it’s more than that. He stops listening for a second, Changbin’s words paused all around. Has he heard of the six different species of creatures?

Well no. He hasn’t.

He thinks.

“The six are, the Shifters, the Nephilim, the Daemons, the Fae Folk, Phoenixes, and th-“

“The Vampires,” Chan says without thinking.

“Correct. The Vampires.” Changbin mumbles something else under his breath but Chan isn’t paying attention.

Something hazy plays in the back of his mind. A dance around a fire, chanting, and laughter. His mind shows wisps of fire dancing in the air, like magic.

“Is there magic?”

“Well yes, but no. It’s said that only the Children of Lady Hecate and her apprentices can use magic but no one has seen or from the goddess, her children, and her apprentices in many years,” Changbin makes a face. “Many people believe them to have passed on.”

Chan raises a brow, placing his hands on the sheets of the bed. “And you don’t think so?”

“I don’t,” Changbin says quickly. I don’t think that the goddess’s children and apprentices are gone. I just think that maybe they’re hiding.”

“Why would they be in hiding?”

There’s a mysterious smile on Changbin’s face, like he knows something he shouldn’t. Chan wants to ask but Changbin shakes his head and places a finger to lips indicating that it’s secret. The subject of Lady Hecate and her children are dropped.

Another hazy image plays in the back of Chan’s mind. He sees a smile and dark hair but he can’t make out the features of the person. Was it a woman? Were her eyes glowing? Why would her eyes being glowing? People don’t have glowing eyes. Do they?

Changbin studies Chan for a moment, the latter uncomfortable at the stare. He shifts on the bed before grabbing his pillow and using it as a shield from Changbin’s stares. He swallows, hiding his face and taking a couple of deep breaths again. There’s a feeling again, the one that has Chan wanting to do press gentle kisses and listen to Changbin talk.

He pushes it away as fast as he can.

“I can’t tell you much about the other species,” Changbin begins again causing Chan to peek out from behind his pillow. He holds it close to his body. “But I can tell you about the Shifters. You see, we Shifters take from animals and can shift at will. We’re not like what humans call werewolves because we don’t just shift during the full moon but all the time. It’s the same for the cats, the birds, the bears, and even the fish.”

“Fish?”

Changbin snickers. “Yes the fish. They used to have their own name but fish have taken a liking to the name mermaids and merman so that’s what they call themselves. You’ll only really find the mermaids at the coast and near massive lakes but other than that, they’re really not anywhere and that’s the extent of the mermaids that I know.”

Chan blinks a couple of times at the information before Changbin continues on. He talks about the different dynamics in a pack and how there’s a little bit of a hierarchy going on with alphas, betas, and omegas as well as the “inner pack” (Changbin is an omega by nature but he _is_ in the inner pack as the strongest omega and the beta of the pack.)

Changbin gives Chan information that can last Chan up to days trying to figure everything out but he never tells Changbin to stop. He’s too focused on the way Changbin’s voice sounds and how it makes him all warm and tingly inside.

“And you stopped listening,” Changbin says with a laugh. “Sorry.”

Chan stares at Changbin like a deer caught in a headlight before smiling sheepishly. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I asked you to explain and you’re explaining but…?”

Changbin laughs a little. “I overloaded you with information. I’m sorry but I can take you to the library if you want to read more. That way you can go at your own pace and I’m just spewing random facts.”

The library sounds like a good place to begin reading the information about the different species as well as finding information about his memory and the fuzzy things that he keeps seeing. It would be great to actually know what’s happening to him and not just playing a guessing game with whatever his memory decides to supply.

“You’re taking this awfully well,” Changbin points out.

Chan shrugs. “I realized that. I don’t know though. I’m not surprised but at the same time I am. Maybe the person who I was before already knew about the different species but I didn’t know it was that intense? I honestly can’t tell you.”

The other chuckles. “You have time to figure it out, I suppose.”

“Maybe so.”

Changbin stands and stretches, Chan following suit before they’re leaving the room. Chan is hesitant but Changbin is patient with him. He waits for Chan, watching as he gathers more courage to leave his room, smiling brightly as he does so. He waits for Chan when people round the corners, one of the younger ones bumping into him and smiling sheepishly at him. He’s just patient and Chan really likes that.

When they reach the library, it looks beautiful, at least to Chan it does. The room is larger than anything he’s ever seen before. Each nook and cranny is filled with book spines, countless books, everywhere. Long tables are scattered around the area along with a few couches and chairs for people to sit. Ambient lighting fills the room and the noise is close to none.

“Welcome to the library,” Changbin says quietly. “Not a lot of people spend a lot of time in here but we have it anyways. From what I know about this place is that we have everything ranging from fantasy novels to books on the different species. I can’t point you in the correct direction but I hope you find something.”

Chan smiles. “Thank you,” he says and Changbin actually blushes.

_Cute,_ Chan thinks. _Changbin is cute._

What?

No. Chan, no.

Changbin clears his throat. “I should go,” he says pointing to the door. “I have something to do for Jaebum.”

The Shifter turns on his heel and heads towards the door, leaving Chan to stand by himself. He doesn’t know what comes over him when he also turns around but he doesn’t move.

“Wait!” he shouts causing Changbin to freeze. “When I woke up in the cellar, you didn’t think I was human, did you?”

Changbin doesn’t turn around. “You smelled like a Vampire and we attacked,” is all he says before he leaves the room.

Chan blinks a couple of times before focusing his gaze back to the library. If he’s going to find anything else about these creatures Changbin mentioned, then he best get started. But he doesn’t move. In the back of his mind, the word Vampire circles around. He likes the sound of being a Vampire and oddly enough, it_ feels_ like it’s the correct word but the last time Chan looked in the mirror, he didn’t have fangs. In fact, everything looked so insanely human that maybe, just maybe, he’s over thinking things, wanting to be something he’s not.

He tries to take a step but he’s still rooted in the same spot.

A Vampire, huh?


	3. [ T W O ]

Chan takes a step of the room and doesn’t look back, at least not this time. Changbin had asked a couple of days ago if Chan wanted to see something and Chan being drawn to Changbin, how was he going to say no. He’s finding it in himself that he can’t say no Seo Changbin which makes him wonder, how much longer until he realizes that he’s put back into the real world, how much is going to miss the beta? 

But the question still stands for Chan. Where is his home? 

It had been almost a two and a half weeks since the conversation about the supernatural world, and very slowly was Chan getting used to people shifting into animals. He’s seen so many different colors and has learned the meaning of the colors of the fur, the eyes, and about the scents that he can’t smell (he’s been told that he smells like something familiar and they can’t put their finger on it.)

But he has to say that Changbin’s fur is his favorite. 

He first saw Changbin shift a couple of days after their talk and he couldn’t believe the sight of a beautiful white wolf with those bright blue eyes of his. It was everything to take Chan’s breath away but it was also strange because of his emotions. 

Even now, as he walks down the steps of the house, avoiding any form of eye contact to the wolves, he feels his heart seize and that feeling of no breathing comes back. His heart pounds in his chest and there are butterflies in his stomach like he can’t believe what he’s seeing. He feels tears begin to prickle in his eyes and why is he crying? He shouldn’t be crying while staring at a white wolf and yet here he stands while crying. 

He wipes his face before anyone can really get a good look at him. From what he’s learned about the wolf shifters so far is that they’re really big on strength and while he’s just a guest of theirs, he doesn’t want to see what would happen if he shows any form of weakness. He knows that showing his emotions isn’t a weakness, but people think differently. 

With his tears on his sleeves, he stands in front of Changbin who wears a wolfish grin. The man’s body is massive when in wolf form, the creature’s head almost able to reach Chan’s shoulders but currently, he’s curled on the ground. Blue eyes follow his every movement, almost like he’s waiting for Chan to make a move but Chan only smiles when he reaches Chan, before looking out to the edge of the forest. 

Something doesn’t sit right with him. The forest is too quiet and the noise around the house is silent, like everyone is holding their breath and waiting for something. 

“Shall we get going?” Chan says, the stillness of everything bothering him. He doesn’t like this one bit. 

Changbin’s blue eyes only stare at him before Chan gets the message to climb onto the wolf’s back. He does so, wrapping fur around his fingers the best that he could. Changbin moves as if to get used to having a rider on his back before standing and beginning his trek into the woods. 

Much like outside of the wooded area, everything is much too silent for Chan. There’s not a single noise coming from anything. There’s not a breath of air coming from the animals or the insects, almost like they’re scared of something in the forest. The hairs on the back of Chan’s neck rise. There’s something in these woods. 

Chan wants to warn Changbin but from the way that Changbin looks left and right, he knows that there’s something wrong. Which poses the question, why Changbin thought it would be a good idea for them to come out here? If there is something lurking in these woods, then it was dangerous to be out here like this but for some reason, Changbin didn’t care. He just continued on like there was nothing wrong and like the animals around them are chattering like normal. 

Chan doesn’t like this. He doesn’t like this at all. 

But he keeps silent as it seems like Changbin knows what he’s doing. 

Changbin in his wolf form doesn’t make for much conversation, leaving Chan to try and entertain himself while on wolf’s back. He watches the trees and the brightly colored flowers as they pass but because of the stillness of the wood, there’s nothing eating the petals and not a single soul crawling on the bark. Chan loses interest within a couple of minutes, finding the stillness too unnerving. He doesn’t want to close his eyes and let the time pass, however, in fear of missing something that would truly take his breath away. 

With a quiet sigh, Chan continues to watch the world pass by him in a boring manner, his mind coming up with stories of vast adventures and mythologies that only the brain could muster. He pictures twin children walking along this path with their hands reaching for the sky and bright smiles on their faces, a hint of fangs poking out of their mouths. One of the twins twirls in the sunlight, a bubble of laughter passing through her lips as she turns to face Chan. 

She opens her mouth to say something but nothing comes out. Instead, a loud screeching comes out of her mouth, followed by the heavy scent of iron and rust. 

Wait what?

Chan doesn’t know when he closed his eyes because the next thing he knows is that his eyes are shooting open and the smell of iron and rust intensifies. He looks around him to see that he’s still riding on Changbin’s back but they’re in front of what looks to be a dead animal of some sort. Horror passes through Chan’s body as he stares at how _mangled_ and _broken_ the body looks. He covers his mouth. 

The creature feels like it used to be a deer with how beautiful the horns must have looked. They curve upwards and in different angles, the bones sharp at the edges. They are the only thing left untouched of the creature’s body. The actual body of the deer is stripped to pieces like some animal decided that it would be best to play with their food before eating it. The insides of the animal were spilled out, staining the grass a dark crimson and the creature’s eyes were glassy, and staring at Chan almost as if asking him to help his death be less painful than it was. 

Chan’s heart breaks but his stomach doesn’t want to continue to see this. Changbin walks a little closer to it causing Chan’s stomach to twist and turn at the smell. This must be one of the only times that he wishes that he didn’t have his keen sense of smell because it’s disgusting, the scent of a rotting body. Gagging a little in his mouth, Chan looks away, the corner of his eyes prickling with tears. 

But then, something strange happens. Something Chan doesn’t understand. 

His gums hurt and he suddenly feels really thirsty, the scent of the blood beginning to become overwhelming. He has this urge to bite something and to _drink_. But just as fast as the urge comes is as fast as it leaves. The sudden shock to his system is enough to leave him breathless. He wants to turn around and look at the dead animal again, but he’s scared to. From the reaction that his body just gave him, he’s scared that he’ll do something that he’ll regret so he stops himself from doing so. 

He blinks a couple of times and tries to make himself smaller because if he doesn’t that, then maybe the scent won’t be as potent and maybe he’ll be able to pass off what he’s thinking is happening to him. He shakes his head when he feels Changbin trying to take a step closer, his fingers that are still entwined in the wolf’s fur pulling harshly at the strands. 

Changbin yelps and stops walking. 

Chan takes a deep breath before he detangles his fingers from the fur and jumps off the Changbin. The scent is too much for him. If he continues to inhale it, then he’s not sure what’s going to be happening but he knows that he needs to make it out of there. He needs to leave. 

When his feet touch the ground, Chan bolts. He doesn’t care where his legs are taking him just as long as he can leave the place with dead all around. Maybe that’s why the forest was silent. It makes sense as well. With that deer being dead, it told Chan that there is something dangerous within the forest and that he was right. There’s something else lurking within the depths of the forest. Something big and evil enough to maul a deer like that. 

It takes him a moment to gather himself and when he finally looks up, he has no idea where he is. The trees and the plants all look the same. The same color, the same type of grass, the same everything. If he turns around to try and find his way out, he’ll get lost and that’s something that he doesn’t want to do. 

He sighs. 

There are a lot of things that he doesn’t want to do. Things that would probably make him more adventurous and more curious but there’s something holding him back. Like he shouldn’t be in this type of situation or should he be with these creatures. It feels odd, like he’s completely done a three sixty because this isn’t what he’s normally like. He feels like he’s out of body and watching a stranger stuff themselves into his body. 

Chan looks at his hands and tries to picture his hands like claws, like a vampire’s but nothing. He sees normal hands and it’s all he sees. 

He starts his walk towards the direction that he was running in. Maybe if he can find his way back to the house, then everything will be okay. He’ll be distracted into what he’s thinking of himself. He supposes that thinking himself to be a vampire would make sense, but what if he’s a daemon, like the ones Changbin told him about. 

_But if you were a daemon, you would fall under Changkyun and he would hate that_, he thinks to himself. _He would gripe and moan about how awful a daemon you would be._

Chan chuckles as he walks. Changkyun would consider him to be a horrible daemon so there’s no way that he’s one. 

Chan stills. 

Who’s Changkyun? 

There’s a pounding in his head that’s loud enough for Chan to hiss through his teeth. He squeezes his eyes shut and tries to let the pain pass but the pain continues to grow and grow. 

_Chan stood in front of Changkyun, his older sibling rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. The older’s red eyes were glowing dimly in the moonlight with small streaks of blood flowing from his fingertips. He smirks. _

_“You know,” Changkyun said “it’s fun ------ these species for Mom. She’s letting us run free with everything.” _

_Chan sighed and shook his head, clicking his tongue in distaste. Of course, Changkyun would find this fun. He had been wanting to ------ something like these creatures for a long time. Or really, he had been wanting to ------ something that would cause humans to hide in their homes at night. And really Chan didn’t blame him. The humans were starting to get rowdy and cause a ruckus that they might be able to handle, but the humans of their mother’s realm were always so unpredictable. _

_“Yes, yes. Now please Changkyun, are you done?” Chan asked. “I have to get to ------. He needs me to do something for him.”_

_The smirk on Changkyun’s face looks more sinister than before or at least to Chan it does. He regretted the words that came out of his mouth, choosing to shut his trap and look the other way. Changkyun walked towards Chan, slamming a hand down on his shoulder. _

_“------, huh?” he laughed. “I can’t believe you managed to score a lover before we did.”_

_Chan’s face felt hot. “He’s no m-”_

_“Oh lies Chan! ------ is totally your lover and it’s cute to watch you squirm.”_

_“I hate you.”_

_“I know.”_

_Chan waved his hand, leaving his brother to do what he pleased. It was only a matter of time before he didn’t have to think about anything that came out of his mouth. He would be with the one person that would make everything silent. It’s that thought that placed a smile onto Chan’s face. _

_Changkyun had chosen a small area away from human cities where he could grow his ------ in peace. His mother had asked him to check up on the older one to make sure that he wasn’t getting into trouble by himself and besides, it was on the way to see his beloved. _

_Chan continued to smile._

_His beloved._

_That’s really what ------ was to him and he wouldn’t trade him for the world. ------ always placed a smile on his face and made his heart feel warm. Even their ------ couldn’t create such an impact like ------ did for him. It was any wonder that the two ------ would be wonderful friends in the future. He could only hope._

_He found himself deep in the wood, the nightlife of the forest coming to life. Fireflies flew all around, some landing on flowers and others helping the nightblossoms bloom. He hears a couple of creatures finding their ways home to rest for the night, while others were just beginning to wake up. _

_He smiled. _

_The trees begin to lessen with more and more flowers blooming, their petals hiding in the tall grass. But none of that mattered to Chan because he could feel his beloved standing and waiting for him. He could feel the other touching the petals of the night flowers and threading his fingers in the grass. _

_Chan’s soul felt warm the closer he got. It felt like tiny fire dragons trying not to scald him but he didn’t mind the burn. Not if he would be able to see the person who caused everything like that. _

_The trees cleared… _

Chan’s hands leave his head as he comes into a clearing. Tall grass is everywhere with something that he thinks looks like flower buds but he can’t be too sure. His soul feels at peace standing at the edge of this clearing, all thoughts and questions of who he is gone, leaving nothing more than an empty mind and a smile on his face. 

Who was the person in his dream? His memory? How did he walk here without knowing where he was going? 

But the more he asked himself these questions, the more the answers wouldn’t come. But this clearing looks like the one inside of his head. He’s not sure how he knows they look the same but they do and if they were, then who would be waiting for him at the edge of the clearing? If he looks now, would there still be someone waiting at the edge of the clearing?

There might be only one way to find out. 

Chan walks through the clearing, his fingers touching the petals. There’s a small tug at the corner of his mouth but nothing more. He’s completely at peace. 

He doesn’t know who he is expecting at the edge of the clearing and it’s certainly not a tall white wolf who is just staring at him. But there Changbin stands, waves of worry rolling off him. It’s only when he spots Chan does the wolf shift into a very naked man, forcing blood to rush to Chan’s cheeks and look away. 

Changbin rushes towards him and stops when he’s a few feet away. 

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

Chan raises a brow. “It’s alright.”

“It’s not.”

And maybe it wasn’t, Chan didn’t know but he was able to gather some information about himself…

Oh. 

That day a couple of weeks ago, Changbin told him that they believed Chan to have been a vampire. Taking Chan to a place with blood and a mauled creature would have been enough for them to see if Chan was the vampire they thought him to be. 

Chan starts to grow angry. 

“You still think?” he questions to which Changbin looks ashamed. 

“I’ve been here for how long? And you?” 

And Chan understands. He really does, but when everything keeps pointing to being a vampire, he continues to be scared because of what if they deem him to be a vampire? Vampires are on their kill on sight list and he really doesn’t want to be killed. He just wants to figure out who he is before he dies, that’s all he’s asking for. 

Chan’s anger dissipates a little.

“I understand why,” he says. “I just wish, well I don’t know.” 

Changbin looks at him. “If it makes you feel better, you passed.” 

He what?

“You’re human.” 

He’s what?

“So once again, when you’re healed, you’re able to leave when you please,” Chan says with a smile. 

Chan looks at his hands again before looking at a smiling Changbin. It just didn’t make sense. Did they not see that Chan was what they thought he was? Was his acting that good that they had no idea of what was happening inside of him?

But if he gets to live, then maybe it’s alright. 

“What’s this place?” Chan asks instead of questioning Changbin’s decision.

Changbin looks past Chan and out into the clearing. There’s a smile on his face and a look in his eyes like his remembering a wonderful part of his past. A breeze passes through, then, ruffling Changbin’s hair and letting the soft scent of lavender float in the air. 

Something stirs in Chan’s mind. The sight of evening primroses and a wolf but the picture is gone just as fast as it came. 

“I just like it here,” Changbin says, the smile still on his face. “There’s just something about this place that’s calming.”

Chan follows Changbin’s gaze. He understands that. 

If Chan would have come out of his room on most days, he would have seen that the pack house was actually planning for an event, one that will have their entire house outside and dancing around the fireplaces. But instead, he has been holed up in his room, trying to hide himself from these shifters. Up until Changbin had sent someone up into his room, he had been looking up things that vampires do. He’s curious to know why he’s having symptoms like a vampire but the pack cleared him of everything which meant that he wasn’t actually one? 

But his door was thrown open about an hour ago and he was dragged out by someone he could vaguely recognize. 

So now he’s here, out in the open with people laughing and talking over the window. Food is being passed around under the setting sun. The pups are running around without a care in the world. Everyone looks happy and carefree. 

It’s an odd thing for Chan to see. He has been seeing the more serious side of things and to actually see the pack having fun is something he never thought he would see. He spots some of the older wolves half shifted with tails and ears out while others have fully shifted including Changbin who is playing with a bunch of children. 

Chan stands rather awkwardly to the side just watching as everything comes to life. He watches the wolves of the pack interact with the upper members but his eyes mainly stay on Changbin. 

He watches as the beta growls playfully with one of the children when they pulled on his tail too hard or even when he shifts and pretends to run off with a wolf pup. The children he’s playing with a screeching with laughter which puts a smile on almost everyone’s face. Chan can tell that this pack loves their upper members.

And maybe Chan is falling in love with this one. 

He shakes his head. He better not think about this now. He’s almost ready to go somewhere. 

Chan’s eyes snap open, the world around him darker than he likes. The dream he had seemed to be too real to be a dream. Maybe it was another memory, something he wished that he could remember now. But of course, like most dreams, he doesn’t remember. 

Wiping his face, Chan takes a deep breath before pushing his blankets aside and leaving the room. He walks barefooted, his feet padding against the ground as silently as he could make them. He’s only been out of his room a handful of times, but he’s mind of the floorboards that creak. He doesn’t want to wake anyone up with his silly nightmares. 

As quietly as a human or fakes human or Chan could make himself, he finds himself in the kitchen with all the lights off as they’re supposed to be. His eyes aren’t that great, but his sense of hearing tells him that he’s not alone. He’s hesitant to turn on the lights but they turn on anyway. 

Changbin blinks at him. 

“Chan?” Changbin yawn out. “What are you doing up?”

Chan only hum before grabbing a cup and pouring some water. He drinks watching Changbin watch him. It’s an odd thing but they somehow make do. 

“You know, “Changbin starts. “Most people come down here late at night when they want to talk about something. Is there something you want to talk about?” 

Chan snorts. “No. I just couldn’t sleep.”

It’s Changbin’s turn to hum. “Are you sure about that? Because most of the time I’m not wrong. It’s an omega thing.” 

“I’m positive,” Chan says with a smile. 

Changbin studies him which makes him feel just a little odd. He can feel his skin crawling at the sight of Changbin’s eyes looking him over but at the same time, it’s almost familiar like he’s felt something like this before. Oddly enough, it’s comforting to him. 

Chan downs his glass of water quickly. 

Why is it comforting to him? 

“You know,” Changbin begins, “there’s something about you. Something I can’t quite understand.”

Chan raises a brow.

“When you first came here facing the charges of a vampire, I couldn’t find it in myself to want to kill you. Even after when you were clueless about this entire world, there was still something. That day in the woods, I had never seen the place but for some reason, I knew that you were going to be there. Like it was ingrained in my mind that I was to meet you at the end of the clearing and right before I was going to give up, you came stumbling in. And the night of the festival, I could feel your eyes watching my every move, but it wasn’t uncomfortable It was a feeling that I didn't know that I was missing.”

Chan’s entire body seizes at the words coming out of Changbin’s mouth, almost like he can’t fully understand what the wolf is telling him. He wants to open his mouth and tell Changbin the same thing but he closes it when Changbin continues to talk. 

“So I talked to Jaebum about it. He said that it was nothing and that I should stop thinking about it. Youngjae and Mark both told me that I need to tell everything that is on my mind and maybe those feelings might go away or they might stay. Who knows.” 

Suddenly Chan feels his heart sink. If Changbin is trying to get rid of all of these odd feelings, then maybe Chan should too. 

No. 

That doesn’t feel right. 

“Me too,” Chan says looking at Changbin right in the eyes. “There’s something that I can’t put my finger on.” 

Changbin looks a little confused at the revelation, like he can’t believe that Chan is feeling the same way that he was. Chan watches emotions pass through Changbin’s eyes. They range from surprise to curiosity to confusion, and finally to harshness. 

“You’re lying,” Changbin hisses. 

Chan shakes his head. “I am not.”

“Lies! All of this is lies. You can be feeling the same things because how then how would any of this make sense?”

Chan shakes his head again. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know anything and it’s killing on the inside not to know anything. He wants to be able to tell Changbin why he’s feeling the way that he is especially when they haven’t known each for long or interacted that much. He shouldn’t have intense feelings of wanting to stay by his side or even to protect him (when did those feelings start? When did any of these feelings start?) And yet here he is, everything falling into place when they don’t have all the pieces to put together. 

Changbin lets out an exhale and stares at Chan before standing up. “We’ve never had this conversation,” he says. “Never.” 

And like a punch to his gut, Changbin is gone leaving Chan by himself and a single empty glass. He feels his heart break followed by his stomach dropping but he makes no move to fix anything because what is there to fix after all? They don’t know each other and Chan will be leaving soon. 

He sighs and looks at his cup. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything after all if it was going to cause this much of a ruckus to the both of them. Maybe he should have finally listened to his gut after all. 


	4. [ T H R E E ]

A knock on his door causes Chan to snap his head and widen his eyes. He wasn’t expecting anyone, especially after that night a couple of days ago with Changbin. The other hadn’t been by to which Chan understood but that didn’t mean that it hurt any less. He thought about going out a couple of times to the library but he’s always freeze up at the thought. 

Another knock. 

Chan stands and takes a breath before answering. “Come in.”

The door opens and the first thing he sees is the sheepish smile of the teenager who he kind of knows. Copper eyes look a little confused and slightly guarded as the boy steps into the room. Chan has never really looked at the boy which means, the fact that he’s taller than Chan is brand new to him.

“Um hello,” the boy says. “I have been sent to fetch you.” 

“I’m sorry?” 

The boy takes a deep breath. “Alpha Jaebum requests your presence. He wants for you to head to the main office and I am to lead you there.” 

Oh? _ Oh. _

It must be time then. He hadn’t thought this far, what he would do once he is able to leave the confines of this home. He needs to get a job, a place to stay, and a place to begin hunting for the things that he’s missing. But where to start? Maybe the alpha will allow him to stay until he got his bearings straight but then maybe not. He has been here for a while and the wolves are kind to those who they invite. Those who overstay their welcome, though, he knows that he doesn’t want to find out. 

Chan nods to the boy who widens the door and walks out. He’s a little sheepish in his walking, like he’s not sure if he’s doing the right thing or like he’s scared of something. In the back of Chan’s mind, he’s curious and he wants to ask but he chooses not to. It’s not his place as he doesn’t know this kid. 

The kid fidgets in front of him like he has a question for Chan but he says nothing until Chan decides that he has enough. He places a hand on the teen’s shoulder causing the younger male to jump and whirl around. 

“Yes?” he asks, his voice shaking. 

“Is everything alright?” Chan asks his voice small. He doesn’t want to scare this boy.

The kid nods, twisting his fingers with one hand. He says no more, keeping a large distance away from Chan but not enough for him to lose sight of the man he’s supposed to take to the alpha. 

Chan and the teen walk through the house, some of the children talking behind closed hands. Chan hears the whispers and the name calling both to him and the teen but he learns no name. Only slurs. His blood boils at the different names being called but he could careless about the names coming towards him. It’s to the shy child in front of him that is making him angry. No child should be treated like that by anyone and he knows that if it was his child being treated to hushed whispers and quiet laughs, he’s be rioting. 

Thanks the gods, his children never had to go through that. He knows that they could take care of themselves, his little boy protective of-

Wait what? 

Children?

What children? He doesn’t have any _ children _.

Does he? 

_ Does he? _

The pain in the back of mind starts quietly like it’s waiting for Chan to continue his thoughts about his made up children but the more he thinks about it, the more it sounds, correct and no. This isn’t something that he needs to think of now. He has a meeting with this pack alpha and he doesn’t have time for ridiculous notions like him having children. 

Chan begins walking away, sending a small smile to his escort. The teen only looks at him funny before continuing through the house. Chan doesn’t let his mind wander anymore. He doesn’t have time to do so. 

The young adult brings Chan up a couple of stairs that Chan didn’t know existed. The floor they got off at only had a long hallway filled with so many different pictures on the walls. There are a couple of frames larger than the rest to which Chan can only guess are the pictures of the previous alphas. Each picture is different from the last, some being from long ago with portraits to black and white photos and finally to color. It’s an odd but colorful transition that has Chan silently wishing he was a part of something like that. 

Knocking on the door, the wolf pup doesn’t look back. He tries to square his shoulders in a faux look to seem strong. 

Chan hears the quiet come in and the door opens. 

“Oh,” comes Jaebum’s voice. “Thank you, Wooseok. I appreciate you getting our guest.” 

The kid, Wooseok, nods to his alpha before turning on his heel and walking out the door. He doesn’t spare another glance at Chan. How odd but maybe it’s for the best. 

Chan turns his attention into the room and the first thing he takes in is the sheer size of the room. Almost five times larger than any other room he has seen, the alpha’s office is decorated in earthy tones. There are two couches in the middle of the room with a table in between them. A couple of pictures are scattered around the room, adding a bit of a homey touch to area. In the back of the room sits a long desk, complete with a computer, more picture frames, and something that looks like a map. But Chan can’t see that well. Not with a body covering most of the table. 

The man smiles at Chan and beacons him to come further into the room. “You’ve been an interesting addition to my pack house, Bang Chan,” the man says, his eyes crinkling into crescent moons. “I’ve heard so much about you from my beta. He likes to talk about you nonstop.” 

It clicks to Chan that this man is the alpha of this pack and he can see it. Or really, he can feel it.

Im Jaebum looks like a flower boy compared to the air that he radiates. Jaebum’s nose and jaw line are sharp, creating the image of a very pretty and masculine man. His skin is devoid of any color making Chan wonder if maybe this alpha is a vampire instead of Chan. His dark hair is a little curly, the strands showing a sliver of his forehead. He sits on the front of his desk, his feet a few air and motions for Chan to sit on one of the two couches.

Chan eyes the couch warily almost as if something is going to come out of it and attack him. He takes a couple of steps, not wanting to seem rude. Jaebum grabs a couple of things from his desk. 

“Is there anything that I can get you?” asks the alpha once the skittish man sits. 

Chan shakes his head. 

“I see,” he says sitting at the couch opposite of Chan. He places his papers to the side. “Changbin tells me good things. Claims that you’re healing nicely.” 

Chan blinks a couple of times before glancing down at his hands. “Yes.” Jaebum smiles at Chan’s reaction which is enough for Chan to look away and stare rather blankly at one of the picture frames. “It’s been an easy recovery for me.”

The wolf hums. “He also tells me that you have no memory of before your time here.” 

Chan’s gut begins to drop as he swallows down the lump in his throat. The air suddenly grows thicker with distrust and confusion but Chan tries to push the full away. It’s heavy, though, sitting in the air like a boulder on the ground. In Chan’s mind's eye, if was a person training for a fight, he’d be the soldier constantly fighting the boulder. And he knows that it’s not going to move nor is it going to get cut with just small hits, he needs to continue striking at it. 

Something stirs in Chan’s gut the moment that it stops dropping. The skittishness and the quiet feeling begin to seep out of his body with a lot of force. Whipping his head around, he looks to Jaebum who is still smiling at him but the corners of his mouth are beginning to droop. 

But just as fast as the helpless feeling left, it comes back just as fast, leaving Chan a little breathless and confused of what just happened. He wipes his palms against his jeans. 

“That is correct,” he says answering Jaebum’s statement. “I woke up to someone watching me and another person whacking me with a whipping stick.” 

“Have you begun to remember things?” 

“No,” Chan lies. “My mind is almost as blank as when I first got here. At least the memories of my past.” 

Chan finally looks at Jaebum in the eyes. The wolf’s smile has dropped and in exchange is a small smirk, like he’s calculating something. Dark eyes gaze into crystal ones, digging through Chan’s emotions and feelings, trying to figure out if Chan is telling the truth or not. At least, that’s what it feels like to Chan. He keeps the gaze of the alpha, waiting for the other to finally look away. 

“Gusty,” Jaebum mumbles. “Changbin didn’t mention that.” 

The not vampire (?) smiles if only just a little but he says nothing.

“I’m sorry to hear that you haven’t found any missing memories,” Jaebum says a little louder. “It’s a shame. I wanted to know why you smelt like a vampire. We all thought that you were one and because of that smell, it was attack on sight.” 

Chan leans back into the couch, a million questions on his tongue but he only dares to ask the one question that he’s wanted to know. He thinks back to Changbin’s answer when he asked and it wasn’t enough for Chan to actually understand. Maybe talking to this man would help Chan see. 

“And if I was?” 

“Was what?” 

“A vampire, what would have happened?” 

“We would kill you.” 

Chan raises a brow. “Why?” 

“I’m surprised that Changbin didn’t tell you,” Jaebum says getting comfortable on the couch. His hands pass over the papers sitting next to him, but he makes no move to actually turn them over. 

“Tell me what?” 

“The story of the Creators. More specifically the vampire creator and the shifter creator.” 

Something stirs in Chan’s gut again at two titles. He blinks a couple of times at Jaebum wondering if the other is going to tell the story. 

Jaebum chuckles and fold his hands on his lap. He plays with his fingers as he begins to talk. “I won’t go into the full story as it’s too long to tell. The vampire creator and the shifter creator were lovers and destined to be an extremely powerful couple. Their creations were to be some of the most famous and some of the most powerful creations when they worked together. 

“Because of the love and affection the two Creators had with each other, the creations tried to get along with each other. They might have been different but they were children of their creator and they wanted to make their parent proud. So they tried.” 

A nasty feeling begins to prick itself at Chan’s neck. There’s an acidic feeling slowly making its way up his throat. He’s going to be sick. 

“One night, however, one of the leaders of a nearby wolf pack went to pose a question to the shifter creator, only to find the vampire creator with bright red eyes and blood all over his hands, his lover dead at his feet.” 

Chan closes his eyes. 

Dread. 

Chan felt dread when he opened the door to his home. Something didn’t sit right when he left for his hunt and it still didn’t sit right a couple of hours later. Maybe -------- would know and help him try to understand. He was the one that would help him when he needed it. He was his ------ after all. 

He continued on into the house, that feeling not leaving him. There was a scent in the air that he couldn’t put his finger on, one that seemed to haunt him the further he got into his home. 

But maybe he’s imagining things. It has been a long day, one filled with too many things happening so maybe, just maybe it was all in his head. He’ll be able to lie next to ------ and everything was going to be alright. That’s the only thing that made sense. 

Everything was in his head and that iron smell was getting heavier. 

Chan stopped walking and forced his ears to listen. He listened for anything that could give something away because the smell of iron was too much. It was too real for it not to be in his head. 

But what would smell like iron? 

Rust would smell like iron and sometimes-

Chan felt a chill in his bones when the sound of wheezing reached his ears. His eyes widen and waited a few more seconds before bolting towards the smell of iron. Towards the smell of blood.

“The Vampires were quick to go to the aid of their creator,” Jaebum says, taking Chan away from the depth of his mind, “claiming that he was too kind to do something like he did but the evidence was there. The creator of the Vampires had killed his lover and for that the Shifters felt like he needed to pay. But the Vampires continued to get in the way. They protected their creator and still protect their creator to this very day. The death of the shifter creator and the running of the vampire creator has caused a very long war between the two creations.” 

Chan snaps open his eyes, not wanting to get lost in something he didn’t understand. He passes a quick glance to Jaebum whose eyes are looking at a point Chan can’t see. There’s a set determination in the other’s eyes, one that has Chan wanting to run and hide.

He gulps and suddenly everything is very clear to him. He knows that he’s having symptoms of being a vampire and that scares him. It scares him because the longer he stays here, the more time the wolves have to learn that he’s been lying this whole time. 

He’s going to get killed. 

“But you’re not a vampire,” Jaebum says and looks at Chan smiling. “So everything will be alright but I must ask you, for the sake of knowing what’s going on within my household, how much longer do you think that you’ll be staying?” 

He needs to get out.

“By the end of the week,” Chan says surprising both himself and the leader of the pack in front of him. “I think it might be best to start somewhere, you know? If someone could take me where they found me, then I might be able to retrace my steps, you know?” 

Jaebum nods at Chan’s words. 

“I think I’m pretty much healed from everything so I think I’ll be fine.”

Jaebum hums. “If only you’re sure. I don’t want Jiyoung and Youngjae having a fit that I let you go too early. They’ll have my head.” 

Chan smiles and hopes it portrays everything he’s not feeling. “I’m sure.” 

“Well then. We’ll have a little farewell feast in your honor.” 

“That will be alright. I just wish to thank you and your pack for all you have done for me during this time.” 

Jaebum continues to smile. “Of course. If there’s anyt-” 

There’s a knock on the door that takes Jaebum’s words away. The person on the other side doesn’t wait for any words of response, before they throw open the door. Changbin and another man storm into the room, their eyes blazing gold. Both of their teeth are bared as they stare down Jaebum. 

“Vampires,” Changbin hisses, throwing a surprised look at Chan. “Two of them.” 

Jaebum stands, nodding. “We’ll have to finish this conversation at a later date, Bang Chan.” He turns to the two wolves. “Where?” 

“Just outside our woods. Mark and Jackson have gone.” 

“We need to prepare for an attack. Changbin, get the caretakers inside along with the children before getting the omega fighters. Wooyoung hyung, gather the warriors. We have Vampires to kill.” 

Jaebum leaves the room with Wooyoung at his heels. Changbin stares at Chan for a long moment before following his leader out of the room. Chan can only stare after the three of them, the thought of two Vampires getting killed tonight not sitting right with him. He just hopes that it’s not his twins. 

Chan stands and leaves the office, closing the door. He only stops himself when he’s halfway down the stairs. 

His twins? What _ twins _? 

Huh? 

Chan sits at the edge of his bed with his eyes closed. He’s listening to the sounds around him for anything unusual as the wolves came back without a single drop of blood. He heard a lot of violent words coming from some of the warriors, most of them claiming that they missed a perfect chance to kill some Vampires. When he heard that, though, Chan let out a long sigh of relief. Regardless of the fight the Vampires and the Shifters are having, death of another species isn’t the answer. At least, that’s what he thinks. 

But because there was no catch of Vampires, that meant that every high ranking pack member needed to be vigilant. Those who were sent into hiding were allowed to come out and head to their rooms with the idea that they lock themselves in there. Chan, not wanting to get on anyone’s bad side, did just that. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t listen. 

His eyes snap open when the voices downstairs turn silent. He continues to listen but nothing happens for a few minutes causing Chan to sigh and push the rest of his body on the bed. He should stop listening. Something tells him he has a big day tomorrow. 

Chan curls on his bed and shuts his eyes, hoping nothing happens. 

_ The first thing Chan felt was hair tickling his nose. He swatted it away, moving his head to the side to fall back asleep but the hair was insistent and the giggling coming from above him was loud enough. A smile slowly came across his face the louder the giggling got. Of course they would be up at this hour. _

_ A finger poked his cheek. _

_ “Daddie,” a young voice called out. “Daddie.” _

_ “Louder -------! I don’t think Daddie can hear you.” _

_ More giggling. _

_ Chan counted down from five before he would begin his attack. There were two of them and one of him but he was the older one here. He could handle two seven year olds. _

_ Another poke to his cheek. “Daddie! Daddie!” said the first voice. “Daddie! Wake up! Uncle Kyunnie is coming remember?” _

_ Four. _

_ Three. _

_ “Dadddddddddie!” called the second voice. _

_ Two. _

_ “--------, I don’t think he’s going to get up any time soon.” _

_ “But he has to! Uncle Kyunnie is coming and he’s bringing,” the second voice paused almost to add a dramatic effect, “a boyfriend.” _

_ One. _

_ Chan attacks. _

_ With a mighty and fingers ready for a mass amount of tickles, Chan grabs the two children from his sides and flips them onto their back. The two children yelp as they hit the bed before bursting out with laughter when they feel Chan’s fingers at their sides. The once silent room was now filled with the screaming laughter of three children as they tried to fight each other. _

_ Chan only relented, a few minutes later, because ------- kneed him in the groin and holy _ shit _ he forgot how much getting kneed in the dick hurt. The little girl laughed, throwing her head back against the bed, before digging herself into Chan’s blankets. _

_ “Daddie, you’re silly,” she said. _

_ “-------, you might have hurt Daddie!” said the little boy. “You should be more careful!” _

_ The little girl stuck out her tongue at her brother before putting her grey gaze to watch her father squirm. _

_ “I’m fine, -------,” Chan said. “I promise.” _

_ \-------- looked like he didn’t believe his father but he said nothing. Moving next to his sister, the little boy buried himself underneath the covers. Chan could tell that he wrapped himself around his sister to which she didn’t mind. She only began to run her fingers through his hair, smiling in contentment. _

_ Once the pain had subsided, Chan smiled at his children. In the few short minutes they had buried themselves into the sheets, they fell asleep and Chan didn’t blame them. It had been a long night the night before which was why he was surprised that they were up at such an hour. But that early hour brought them to him and maybe he can fall back asleep too. _

_ He placed himself behind his son, draping an arm over his tiny waist, his hand landing rather gently against his daughter’s back. He closed his eyes and felt himself drift off to the smell of smoke. It was rather comforting to him, being this close to his children. He wished for them to be this tiny for a little longer before they grew as he wanted to cherish moments like these just a bit more. _

_ There was a smile on his face the deeper he slept and the smell of smoke reached his nose. Who knew that the smell of smoke could be so comforting? So warm? _

_ He buried himself more into his sheets following a large waft of something burning and the muffled sound of screams. _

The sound of something breaking forces Chan to wake. His heart pounds in chest as his body remains still. He blinks a couple of times to take in his surroundings and that’s when he smells something burning and hears the shouts of people all around him. A taste of ash is on his tongue while his eyes look at the bottom of the door to see shadows passing rapidly. He doesn’t feel the heat of the fire but he can feel the thud of people’s feet hitting the ground when he places his own. He wastes no more time leaping from his bed to the door. 

His handle isn’t hot, which he’s thankful for. Throwing the door open, the first thing he sees is people rushing towards the stairs, some arms filled with children and other filled with other little things. Chan doesn’t think when he hurries out into the hallway following people. He doesn’t have anything in the room anyway. 

“Get everyone out!” yells Jaebum from somewhere below. “I want a headcount in a few minutes! Wooyoung hyung find Donghee hyung and Heechul hyung. They have to be around here somewhere!” 

“Find the source of the fire, Changbin!” someone yells. 

Chan forces himself to stop listening to the people around him. He needs to first focus on getting out safe and sound before he can start worrying about other people. At least that’s what he tells himself before a couple of children fall in front of him. One of them, the little boy, starts wailing while his brother tries to pull him up. The boy isn’t moving and no one is stopping to grab them. 

“Come on Yunnie,” says the taller boy. “We need to go.” 

“I can’t move Gigi,” cries Yunnie. “I can’t do it.” 

“Yunnie, please.” 

Chan doesn’t think the image of the smiling twins in his mind's eye. He scoops up the two children without their say before something happens to them. The boys are too startled to say anything, only clinging to Chan’s neck the more he follows the crowd. One of the boys (Yunnie he thinks) begins to silently cry causing Chan to awkwardly pat his back. 

“It’s alright,” he says. “I promise it’ll be alright.” 

The crowd somehow makes it outside with Chan and the two children in the back of the massive pack. The breeze feels warm but he doesn’t dare turn around. 

“Don’t look,” he says to the boys.

Yunnie nods his head in Chan’s neck while Gigi only releases a low whine. 

They don’t make it very far before everyone just stops in the middle of the yard. There’s a loud murmur in coming from around the three of them which is enough for Chan to grow angry. They shouldn’t be stopping with a fire this large. It’s only going to kill someone in the long run. So he makes his way through the still and talking crowd. 

These _ idiots _ are just standing there and it’s enough for Chan to knock a couple of people around. They look at Chan like they’ve seen a ghost but they don’t move.

“What the hell is wrong with you people?” he hisses. “We need to move.” 

He doesn’t know where this attitude is coming from. He wants to blame the fire but he knows that it’s more than that. This attitude feels more like himself and less like the shadow of the person he was inside. Maybe for now, it’ll be a good thing and once he’s able too, he’ll think more of it. 

He hears the fight before he sees it.

He hears the snarls of a wolf and a hiss coming from another creature. It’s a low hiss, one that’s done in warning and not as a threat. 

“You dumb stupid dog!” yells a female voice. “We were just passing through!” 

The wolf snarls in response. 

A couple of cheers sound, almost like they’re egging on the wolf to attack and they forgot about the roaring fire behind them. Chan didn’t, however, and he would like to get the fuck out of there with these children in his arms. 

He makes his way to the front of the crowd where everyone is stopped and watching the scene in front of them. A massive red wolf stands in front of the pack not moving an inch. Its tail is tucked in between its legs but the ears are standing erect as if it’s listening for an attack coming its way. From the way the wolf stands, it looks like it’s about to pounce. 

Chan feels himself still when his eyes land on the woman standing in front of the massive wolf. 

The woman’s hands are out in front of her like she’s trying to stop the wolf from attacking. Her long grey hair sits in soft waves below her shoulders and her eyes, _ her eyes _, are as beautiful as a cloudy day. She wears all black. Black shorts, black crop top, and black boots. Only the top, however, has a gold trim coming down the center of her torso. 

She looks familiar to Chan. 

Bringing her hands towards her body, she hisses low and takes a step back. 

“Let us leave,” she says. “We want no harm.” 

Chan puts the children in his arms down to openingly stares at the woman. Everything about her feels familiar. Her stance, her words, the sound of her voice, feels like he knows this woman which is strange because he’s never seen her before in his life.

“Then why are you here?” comes Jaebum’s voice. “You and your brother, if not to attack our home?” 

The woman shakes her head. “We’re looking for someone is all. Please. Give me my brother back and we can go.” 

Jaebum comes into view, dragging someone behind him. The first thing to reach Chan’s nose is the scent of blood and something sour. Pulling the person in front of him, Jaebum drops the heap of a person in front of him, the man littered in bite marks and blood. His clothes are torn and that might be flesh hanging off his limbs. Two heads slam into Chan’s legs with small whimpers coming from their mouths. 

“They’re going to eat us,” Yunnie says. 

“We didn’t mean to be bad kids,” Gigi says. 

“We don’t want to be eaten by the Vampires,” Yunnie says again with tears in his voice.

Chan snaps out of whatever trance he’s in when he hears those words. He places his hands against the boy’s heads to keep them from looking at the sight of the mangled vampire. 

But he can’t take his eyes off the heap. There are tears in his eyes when he looks at floppy brown hair stained in red. His pale features seem to come out when the moon hits him in the right spot, showcasing a sharp jaw line and high cheekbones. Chan can’t say much of anything else as his face is in the dirt and he’s still not moving. 

A scream rips from the other side of the field where the vampire woman stands. “Jongho!” she shouts. She pays no mind the wolf that’s watching her move as she runs across the yard, trying to reach her companion. 

Jongho? 

The red wolf pounces on the female vampire, her scream louder than before. It sinks its teeth into her shoulder and tries to shake the woman but she’s having none of it. With all of her strength (or what Chan thinks is all of her strength) she pulls the wolf away from her shoulder. She doesn’t care about her bleeding shoulder. All she wants is to go to her still moving companion. 

“Jongho!” she screams again. “Jong please.” 

“Why are you here?” Jaebum asks again, this time stepping on the heap. 

The woman stops running and just stares. There’s a lot of pain in her eyes. Pain that Chan wants to take away from this woman but there’s nothing he can do. His feet are stuck where they’re at. Jaebum presses a little more on the man causing him to cough a little. 

Jongho turns his head and stares at woman, full bloody lips forming quiet words. 

“Yoohyeon,” Chan hears Jongho whisper. “He’s here. Dad is here.” 

Yoohyeon? 

“Please,” Yoohyeon pleads. “We’re only looking for our father. He went missing a few months ago and we’re worried. That’s the reason why we’re here. Just let us go and we’ll be on our way.” 

Jaebum snorts. “Of course. I’ll let you free and then you’ll kill us all.” 

“No!” she shouts. “We just want our father. That is all. Dad! Please! I know you’re there!” 

Chan grips onto the children at his legs. He feels compelled to answer the woman, Yoohyeon’s shouts but he’s not her father. He’s not the one they’re looking for. 

Chan looks down to the two frightened children. “It’ll be okay,” he whispers again. “It’ll be alright. They won’t get to you.” 

Two pairs of eyes look at him, one green and one gold, where fear is evident in both of them. He pats their heads gently and smiles at them. He tries not to pay any mind to the rushing sound in ears or the oncoming headache that he can feel. He needs to shake it off and be there for these two children. 

Chan blinks. 

_ “It’ll be alright,” Chan said quietly to a small ------. “The monsters aren’t going to get you.” _

_ \------ pouts. “But Daddie!” she said. “The story uncle Kyunnie read to us told us that monsters were going to come for us if we weren’t good children! ------ wasn’t listening today and he didn’t mean not to listen.” -------’s voice got higher and higher until tear spilled over her cheeks. _

_ Oh how Chan was going to kill Changkyun for his unnecessary stories. _

_ “It’s going to be alright, Hyeonnie. I promise.” _

Chan blinks again. 

Hyeonnie?

Yoohyeon screams causing Chan’s head to shoot up. He sees the same red wolf tearing into the vampire’s leg, almost ripping it clean. Panic begins to fill Chan’s mind because no, no, _ no. _

Someone screams louder than Yoohyeon. 

“Yoohyeon!” Jongho shouts. “Stop it!! We’re telling the truth!” 

Chan blinks with his heart sinking the louder Yoohyeon and Jongho scream. 

_ “Daddie!” ------ yelled. “Hyeonnie pushed me.” _

_ Chan raised a brow. “Oh?” _

_ “Yes,” the little boy said with his whole five year old chest. “She pushed and she deserves to be in time out.” _

_ “Does she?” _

_ “Yes.” _

_ Hyeonnie stood not a few feet away from Chan and ------- with her arms crossed over her chest. She glared at -------- who dared not to look towards his sister. He didn’t want to get on her bad side even though it already seemed like he was going there. _

_ “Why did she push you, --------?” Chan asked, a faint smile tugging at his lips. _

_ “She thought I was pulling her hair but I wasn’t! I promise!” _

_ “You’re telling the truth?” _

_ “Yes! I’m telling the truth!” _

_ Chan laughed and poked the child’s cheek. “But you’re not, my sweet little liar. I saw you pulling Hyeonnie’s hair and she did ask you to stop. Jong, you know to stop when someone asks.” He looked to Hyeonnie who looked to the ground almost as if she knew what was going to happen next. “And Hyeonnie, you shouldn’t push people.” _

“Yoohyeon!” Jongho shouts causing Chan to once again snap out of whatever it was. 

He dares to glance at Yoohyeon who is the one to stop moving. Her leg looks to be chewed all the way through with her bone showing. Blood is everywhere on her dark clothes. Her shoulder is still bleeding profusely causing her pale face to turn even paler than before. Her eyes are shut and her entire body is still, like all the fight in her body has stopped. 

But Chan is still on the vision (?) memory (?) he just had. 

Who is Jong? 

Who is Hyeonnie?

Who are these children in his dreams? 

“Dad, please!” Jongho cries out again, trying to crawl towards the fallen vampire. Jaebum, however, isn’t having any of this. He’s still pushing down on Jongho’s torso, halting all movements coming from the pleading vampire. “Yoohyeon is going to die. Daddie, _ please. _”

There’s a loud rushing in Chan’s ears. 

“Kill them,” Jaebum orders. “Kill them both.” 

Very carefully, Chan reaches down and untangles Yunnie and Gigi from his legs. Both children look at him, both of them still very scared. He crouches and smiles the best that he can with them. “Stay here,” he says. “Promise, me, okay?” 

One of the boys, he doesn’t know which, nods his head and Chan pats his head again. 

“Stay with each other and don’t look.” 

Chan stands and takes a step into the cleared yard. Someone hisses for him to take a step back but he pays no mind to the words coming out of the person’s mouth. With each step he takes, the more his mind is clear and sound. The more he begins to feel more like himself and how in his _ mother’s _ name did he stand being a hopeless whatever it was? May he never find out. 

But that’s not for now. 

Nope. 

That’s for later. 

Right now, though? He needs to be a tad bit scary. 

The red wolf goes to tear out Yoohyeon’s jugular causing Jongho to scream. Chan has never moved so fast in his life. Without a second thought, he throws the wolf away from his daughter and stares and her fluttering grey eyes. She tries to smile at him, her lips forming soundless words. Her eyes close.

Chan breathes in nose and out his mouth a couple of times. He can hear a faint heartbeat coming from Yoohyeon which tells him that she’s alive. She’ll be fine after a couple dozen blood bags. 

They all will be.

Very slowly, Chan turns around and faces Jaebum who looks between shocked and knowing. The corner of his lips curve up into a smile. 

“Hello Bang Chan,” he says. “It’s so nice to finally meet the Creator of the Vampires.” 

Chan hisses low in his throat. The sound reaches all the shifter’s ears and the ears of the wild animals. There’s a shroud of fear that carries itself through the crowd of people watching them. But it wasn’t just from the hiss. 

Raw and unfiltered power simmers through the air, crackling at animosity filling the yard. The force of the power is enough for everyone to still completely, fully knowing that this is a different monster than the monsters they normally deal with. 

Jaebum opens his mouth to speak and that’s when Chan moves. He’s faster than any vampire or shifter has ever been when he reaches the pack leader. Pushing the shifter off his son, he has half a mind to tear out the leader’s throat and kill the pack officers but that’s not who Bang Chan is. Not who he made himself to be after _ his _ death. 

“Jongho,” Chan says. “Can you stand?” 

“Daddie,” Jongho replies. “Daddie.” 

“Jongho.” 

Jongho stands, his legs wobbling like they can’t take much of his weight. Chan hisses at the thought. 

“Now, now, Chan, is this how you’re going to repay us?” Jaebum says from the side, standing up from his push. 

“I will always be grateful for your kindness,” Chan says wrapping an arm around Jongho’s torso, “but I will never forgive you for this.”

“You know why we have to do this,” Jaebum says. “It’s your creations that must pay for your crimes against us.” 

The temperature grows colder by the minute the more Chan feels his emotions go out of whack. There’s still a bunch of his memories missing but those will come back with time and he supposes if he really wanted to go, he could always find Mnemosyne to find out what’s blocking his memory. He knows enough now to know that these two, Jongho and Yoohyeon, are in fact his children. He raised them from when they were human babies so many years ago and when he turned them. 

He knows his story and happened that night. 

He knows who is mother is and who his partner was. 

He knows and there’s no way that he’s going to let someone who knows _ nothing _ treat his family like they are. Yoohyeon didn’t attack and he knows that Jongho didn’t attack either. He doesn’t know who started the fire but he sure as shit knows that his children would _ not _ put people at risk. Not like this. 

Chan walks his son to stay with his daughter before straightening his back and turning to face Jaebum. Chan will not kill for the sake of killing nor will he kill because someone has pissed him off but he did promise himself that he will kill if something ever happened to his children. And here he stands in the middle of a shifter backyard, both of his children on the brink of death and Chan has had _ enough _ of this childish killing. 

He hisses low as he stands in front of his wounded children. He stands tall with pride, his hands curled into fists and ready to fight. He lowers himself and waits. If he’s going to do this right, then he’s not going to be the first to attack. That’s not the way he was taught. 

He counts to five. 

Jaebum attacks. 

Compared to the people that Chan has fought before, Jaebum fights like a child. He doesn’t mean to insult the pack leader but that’s how he is. His punches and his attacks are wide open and predictable enough for Chan to read every movement the shifter makes. And because he’s easy to read, Chan is able to tell when the small bursts of frustration come to him as his hits and his moves become ever sloppier than before. 

Chan hisses and Jaebum has enough. He shifts, looking almost painful to the vampire. 

Maybe…

Chan dodges Jaebum’s next attack before launching one of his own. 

One. 

Two. 

Three. 

Something is wrong. Something is very wrong. 

When Chan was hiding away in the pack house, there would be times that he would look out the window and watch the pack members learn to fight. Jaebum and his leaders would drive the warrior members to the bone, causing lots of grief from the members. But maybe they were never that good in the first place, which Chan doesn’t understand. They all seemed to be well trained so why? 

The only explanation Chan can come up with when he slams his fists into Jaebum’s stomach and sinks his teeth into Jaebum’s forearm is that the other is hurt. He doesn’t know where because he doesn’t smell blood, but he’s still hurt. 

It might also be the reason why Jaebum isn’t shifting. 

Chan takes a couple of steps back to really take a look at Jaebum. 

The other is panting heavily, clutching his stomach. There’s blood at the corner of his lips and small rivers coming from different puncture holes from Chan’s teeth. 

A couple of Jaebum’s Shifters take a step forward to aid their leader but Jaebum snaps his teeth, keeping his gold eyes on Chan. He lifts one corner of his mouth. 

“Your reputation precedes you,” Jaebum says. 

“And yours doesn’t,” Chan replies. “I know you can hit a lot harder than that.” 

“Well the other male vampire did put up a fight.” A flare of pride bubbles in Chan’s chest. Jongho did well. “But not well enough it seems.” 

Chan snarls and takes a step to attack. 

“Jaebum hyung let me attack,” comes a voice that draws the breath out of Chan’s entire being. Someone steps into the cleared circle. 

Icy eyes met crystal and suddenly Chan wants to cry. He wants to curl up on the ground because now he knows why everything about this man is familiar to him. 

In a rush of memories, Chan thinks to the clearing understands and blooming night flowers. He thinks about the training with the pups and to the library where he found the other man sitting and reading stories to the pack pups. He sees bright smiles and crescent moon eyes. He hears howls of laughter and delight when he created _ his _ creations and his name rolling off _ his _ tongue. 

Chan hears and sees the little things. It’s enough for him to take another step back followed by another and another. He lets his mouth fall open and a sob rip through his mouth because fate was never kind to him. Fate was… no _ is _ a cruel thing to him. 

He closes his mouth before something else can come out, something he might regret. 

“Dad,” he hears Jongho’s voice. “That’s…” 

Chan turns on his heel and quickly grab his children, careful with Yoohyeon’s broken body. He doesn’t dare to turn around when _ he _ calls his name. No, he shakes his head and continues to believe that Fate is an evil thing. 

The crowd parts easily enough when Chan leaves the backyard, fleeing into the words. 

In the front of his mind, old memories that he forgotten begin to play, telling a story that only Chan and _ he _ knew. Nights where they sat under the moonlight to let Chan’s creations run around and days under the sun, _ his _ creations fighting and roughhousing with each other. Quiet moments were they sat in other presence and hot moments when _ his _ lips were upon Chan’s skin. 

Everything is sudden and suddenly Chan can’t continue anymore. When he’s sure that they have ran a decent distance from the pack house, he puts his children down and blinks a couple of times. There are too many things happening within his head, too many memories of death and life. He sags against a tree. 

“Call your uncle,” he mumbles out. “Please.” 

Jongho wheezes and stares at his father. “Dad that wa-”

“Yes,” Chan whispers holding his head and closing his eyes where he can see icy eyes, “Changbin. That was Changbin, the Creator of the Shifters.” 

A sharp pain flares in Chan’s head and everything goes dark. 


	5. [ F O U R ]

Something presses against his lips, something that smells what he believes heaven to smell like. He wants to taste it. He wants to taste heaven. 

Opening his mouth, he hisses as thick liquid slides down his throat. It’s almost too sweet for him, making him almost spit it out but the way his stomach and his body visibly drinks every last drop of the sweet liquid is enough for him not to do such a thing. 

He swallows and swallows until there’s no more. 

He hisses again, wanting the drink back, reaching for it blindly but something gentle touches his shoulder, pushing him into something plush. He feels warm and comfortable and maybe, just maybe this feeling is enough for him to find peace again. Maybe he’ll sleep for a little longer. He needs sleep, doesn’t he? 

Another gentle touch cards itself into his hair, running softly against the strands. There are sounds coming from somewhere above, sounds that he can’t make out but they’re calming to him. Calming in enough that he feels the corner of his lips tugging up. Burying himself further into the warmth he feels, he lets himself sink and truly sleep once more. 

This time when he wakes, his eyes open. Everything around him is blurry and filled with bright colors he doesn’t know the names of. Silhouettes of people surround him with their voices loud in his ears. He hisses at the sounds and tries to lift his hand to push them away. 

Nothing happens. 

He tries to move again but the same thing happens.

Nothing. 

Another hiss comes from his throat. 

And then nothing. 

He wakes to searing pain all around him.

He opens his mouth to shout, yell, to make some kind of noise, but the only thing he can do is lift his body off whatever surface he’s on, his jaw in an open scream. Everything within his body feels hot like someone ran a hot iron in his blood, cursing him to burn within. It feels like his skin is about to peel from his skin and he wants it to stop. He wants everything to stop. 

Over and over like a mantra or even a chant, he pleads with his body to listen to him, to follow the instructions that he’s given. He pleads and pleads, but nothing happen. His body has a mind of its own. 

Something hard pushes against his shoulders and it _ burns _ him. It causes so much pain that he’s not sure if he’s screaming out loud or silently. 

_ Stop touching me, _ he wants to say. _ Make the pain stop, _ is the other and like before, nothing happens. He cries. 

But then it stops. 

Something is at his lips with a thick liquid. It passes through his mouth and down his throat, not fully realizing how thirsty he is. It’s a sweet like the sweet thing from before. He wants more. He deserves more and more until he drinks his fill. 

He opens his mouth to ask for more but everything around him seems to stop once more. 

When Chan opens his eyes, the first thing he sees is the gaudy roof that can only belong to one person in his long life. For centuries, he’s been telling Changkyun to change the decor to at least match the times that they were in, but he wasn’t having any of it. Changkyun adored the renaissance era just as much as he adored his Daemons which one could say is too much. But Changkyun is happy and Chan supposes that’s what really matters. 

His body is weak, Chan notes as he tries to force himself up. It takes a lot of time and effort to do so but when he’s finally able to sit, he stares around the room, trying really hard not to roll his eyes. 

The room Chan is staying in is a massive thing. With baby blue walls to match the ceiling, Chan’s room is filled with different paintings depicting Daemons. Most of the art pieces include disgusting and broken horns, fangs longer than faces, and crooked fingers curled into small fists. They are hideous and ugly and Changkyun’s way to laugh at how humans portray his creations. 

The only thing Chan seems to like about this room is the single dresser and two side tables, all of which are white. A tray sits on top of the dresser like someone had forgotten they had placed it there, the strong scent of blood quietly filling the room. At the smell, Chan’s stomach growls but he makes no move to actually cross the room to let his desires be satisfied. He knew better. 

Looking at his hands, he notices how pale they are compared to when he was staying with the Shifters. Bitterly he smiles at them, noting how different his body was when he didn’t understand or know who he was. Maybe it would have been similar then. 

He doesn’t know what caused his memory to come back in the first place or even if he dreamt about his memories when he was sleeping. All he knows is that he didn’t know who he was and now he does. 

Chan snorts. 

“Auntie Memmie always said the mind was a curious thing,” comes a voice. 

Chan doesn’t startle but he does roll his eyes when he looks up. From the last time Chan saw Changkyun, his hair is dyed black and his skin has a little bit of a tan hue to it. The slight golden hue to his skin looks nice against the black and white outfit he wears. He runs a hand through his hair, causing the strands to brush away from his face for a few moments. Chan almost chokes. 

“Is that an _ eyebrow piercing? _” Chan questions. 

Changkyun smiles, his fangs on full display. “Yes!” he says touching the metal in his skin. “Doesn’t it look lovely?”

“Am I going to question why?” 

“Hyungwonnie! He dared me to get it and well I dared him not to cut his hair for a couple of months which resulted into his look today. When you see him, trying to stare too much. He’s a bit touchy with it. But you see Channie, I don’t know why! It doesn’t look bad! He actually looks pretty amazing if I do say so myself.” There’s a smug look on Changkyun’s face as he talks. 

Normally Chan would humor Changkyun, letting the younger man talk on and on but this time, he’s tired and his body hurts. The more he finds himself sitting up for too long, the more that he wants to lay back down and maybe sleep for a longer period of time. 

“-d you would never believe Channie! The way that I snorted when I got Jongho’s call. He was so panicky and barely conscious when Hyungwonnie and Hyunnie went to see. Jiyong might have panicked along with poor Jongie when Hyeonnie was placed in surgery and Yoongi had to shoo the two out of the hospital wing before they could cause any more distraction from his job.” 

Jongho. Yoohyeon. 

“Changkyun,” Chan whispered. “Please.” 

The Daemon Creator stops talking and smiles gently. Crossing the room, the younger sits on the edge of the bed and cups Chan’s face. There’s a look in the other’s eyes that Chan would never have thought to have seen before. One that spoke too many words of regret and relief. 

“Chan, I thought I lost you,” he whispers. “You were so still and I nearly panicked if not for Hyungwon and Hyunwoo. Both felt a heartbeat and please never scare me like that again. I already lost Changbin, I can’t lose you too.” 

Changbin. 

Chan smiles softly, touching the hand against his cheek. “I’m fine.” 

“You will be. Both Yoongi and Jimin looked at you. They said that you were deprived of blood and would show symptoms of blood withdrawal while you were out.” He pauses. “Jongho explained everything.” 

“How long?” 

Changkyun’s hand drops from Chan’s face, taking Chan’s hand with his. He intertwined their fingers, rubbing circles in the back of his older brother’s hand. 

“Jongho said you were missing for months and when he finally finds you, you’re almost dead for a week.” 

A week. 

Everything in Chan’s body tells him to find his son. He wills his body to move but it’s not listening and it’s frustrating to him. He needs to his body to listen because he needs his son. He needs to hold his son and kiss his daughter. He needs to see that they’re alive. 

His expression must have been showing what he’s feeling because Changkyun only smiles when he detangles their fingers and stands. He doesn’t say anything when he leaves the room, leaving the door open enough for Chan to hear him calling Hyungwon’s name. He returns a couple of moments later with two more bodies following him. 

Chan barely glances at Hyungwon, his eyes immediately landing on his son. 

A well of emotion fills his entire being as he quickly opens his arms and has an arm full of Jongho, Jongho, and _ Jongho. _There’s a rushing in his ears that blocks out all sound coming from anywhere in the room as his mind and soul fills with the child in his arms. 

Jongho’s shoulders shake almost as if he is trying to cry. He holds onto Chan like he’s scared Chan is just going to up and disappear, which causes Chan’s heart to break. He never meant to scare him like this. He only wanted to protect his children from a fate he knew would be the death of them. He would do it over and over again if it meant Jongho was going to be safe. If Yoohyeon was going to be safe. He’d gladly take their place. 

And maybe it Chan’s willingness to protect his children that helped his mind. Maybe it was seeing both Yoohyeon and Jongho nearly killed that caused him to take a step forward regardless of the fact that he barely knew the two of them. His deep desire to protect what is his was more than some silly memory issue. 

So Chan holds on, silent promises to continue to protect Jongho from the war between the Shifters and Vampires passing through his mind. 

He pushes Jongho away but not too far to get a look at the boy for any injuries. Chan knows that Jongho suffered from them when he fighting Jaebum but he didn’t know the extent of them. Jongho laughs, the sound wet. 

“We heal fast, dad,” Jongho says. 

“I know but just in case,” Chan says, his eyes doing another check. “I can’t be too sure.” 

“I’m not human anymore.” 

Chan looks into Jongho’s crystal gaze, a small smile reaching his lips. With as much energy as he can muster, he places one of his hands against Jongho’s cheek, his son closing his eyes and leaning into the touch. “I know,” he says, “but please, humor me.” 

Jongho doesn’t say anything else for a few moments, just being in his father’s presence. Chan joins the silence, humming gently at the warm feeling beneath his fingertips. 

“I always do.” 

Jongho leans forward, wrapping his arms around Chan’s torso. He takes a deep breath as he buries his fact into Chan’s stomach. It takes a couple of moments of Jongho stills, the grip around Chan’s waist going a little slack. 

“He’s been worried,” Changkyun says from his spot by the door as Chan tries his hardest to scoot over to let Jongho lay down on the bed. “I don’t think he’s rested since all of this started. He’s just been watching over the two of you.” 

Once Chan is settled, he pulls his sleeping child onto the bed, carding his fingers through his scalp. With a couple of run throughs and a fond smile on his face, he looks to his sibling. 

“I lost my memories,” Chan says, his voice low before lowering his eyes. “Up until the day that the twins found me, I had no idea who I was or what was happening. Kyun, if I didn’t follow the crowd, they would have died. My children would have died and I would have never known.” 

“But they didn’t and you were there,” Changkyun says. “Don’t dwell on the past, Channie. It will only cause more ‘what ifs’ and more heartache. They’re here now and both of them are alive. You did well. I promise.” He pauses. “But I’m curious, how was losing your memories? Were you the same? Different? Channie, tell me!” 

“Changkyun really?” Hyungwon says. “He’s telling you that he was lost for months and that his memory was gone and you’re asking about it? 

Chan looks up and there’s a shit eating grin on Changkyun’s face while Hyungwon shakes his head. He gives Chan a disappointed look, his long dark hair moving along with each shake of his head. It takes a moment for Chan to really look at Hyungwon, his skin paler than what he’s used to, dark strands curled and falling into his eyes. If anything, Hyungwon looks like he’s a prince out of a fairytale, which Chan supposes that he is. 

“I like it,” Chan says. “Your hair.”

Hyungwon’s face flushes. “Dear Hecate. Not you too.” 

“Well I mean, it really does look nice. I like the curls. It gives you a youthful look.” 

“I can’t age Chan. I’ll look like I’m twenty three for the rest of my life.” 

“But that doesn’t mean your hair can’t make you look even younger.” 

Hyungwon rolls his eyes. “Really?” 

“Yes.” 

Hyungwon crosses his arms over his chest, giving Chan a long stare. He purses his lips before sighing and turning on his heel. “You sound like Changkyun with all of this. I can’t believe you because I finally thought I would have someone on my side about this style. I’m going to wheel in Yoohyeon. I can’t stand the sight of you right now.” 

Hyungwon leaves the room, his grumbling following him down the hallway. Chan chuckles and perks up at Yoohyeon’s name but he doesn’t stop carding his fingers through Jongho’s hair. 

“You shouldn’t worry,” Changkyun says. “I’m sure if you told them about what happened then-” 

“He was there,” Chan cuts off Changkyun, his hand stilling. He stares at a spot on the bed before looking up to his brother. “He was there. Changbin.” 

Changkyun blinks a couple of times, his mouth going slack in surprise. It takes him a moment to gather his thoughts before laughing. “Changbin is dead. He died man-”

“I know what I saw. Changbin, or a reincarnation with the same name, lives and is there inside of that pack house.” 

“Fate isn’t that cruel,” Changkyun says. “Fate would never be that cruel.” 

Chan wants to laugh. He really does. 

For years, Changkyun has always believed that Fate is a wonderful thing and it’s something to be cherished but Chan always knew better. He knows are daring and _ evil _ Fate can be. He knows that it can grab you by the horns, shaking you until there’s nothing left but a hollow shell. He knows but he never had the kindness to share that with his brother. He never wanted to be the one to shatter how Fate really works. 

And yet, here he is, about to tear the news to his sibling. 

“Fate has always been cruel,” Chan whispers, his hand beginning to move again. 

“Cha-”

“But Fate can be kind,” Yoohyeon says as she’s wheeled into the room. Both Changkyun and Chan snap their heads towards the female vampire. 

She smiles kindly at the both of them, her hands folded neatly in her lap. Physically, she looks fine, like the same Yoohyeon Chan saw before he left, most likely Jimin forcing her to sit in a wheelchair for a little bit. Her grey eyes hold warmth, something Chan could only smile about. If he could cry, then he would. 

“Hyeonnie,” he whispers, his hand stilling for a second time. 

“Hi Daddie,” she says. “I see you’re up and well.” 

Hyungwon rolls her to the other side of the bed, pausing beside her chair in case she needs something. Carefully, she stands before plopping herself next to her father and copying her brother’s position. Without a second thought, he begins to card his fingers through her long locks. She curls more into his body with a warm breath against his skin. 

Chan has this urge to cry and scream at the same time. Or hell, even wail at the top of his lungs, but he keeps quiet not wanting to disturb Jongho’s sleep. 

The same want to protect flares up like it did with Jongho. Everything is the same. He’ll do what he must in order to protect his children and if fighting and giving up what is rightfully his is something he has to do, then it’s what he’ll do. 

His arm curls around his children with his mind repeating over and over again. He continues to repeat the words until he finally believes himself because really, after the time he’s had with his memory, he’s almost certain that the shock hasn’t faded from his system yet. 

Each stroke he does against their heads, his mental words fall from his mind. 

She’s here and she’s alive.

He’s here and he’s alive. 

She’s _ here _ and she’s _ alive. _

He’s _ here _ and he’s _ alive. _

They’re _ alive. _

There’s nothing that can take away the happiness coming from within. 

“Hey Daddie,” Yoohyeon calls out. “Who’s the Sixth?” 

Well maybe that. 

_ The story of creation for the world Earth is always the same depending on what religion one follows but the story of how the Creator’s creatures came to be is always different. Some claimed they have been there since the very beginning of time and others have claimed that the Creator’s creatures are a fairly recent addition to the world. _

_ Both are wrong but right. _

_ You see, right before the fall of the continent Lemuria, the goddess Hecate had six children. Each child was supposed to help their mother spread the idea of magic across the world, only for them to create their own. In a test to truly understand what it means to wield the power of magic, Hecate gave her children the idea to create their own creatures. And they did. _

_ The oldest out of the six, Nana, created the race of Nephilim as a play on those who didn’t believe in multiple gods. She wanted to prove that gods within the pantheons could be just as powerful as the single god people had begun to believe in. _

_ The second oldest, Jongdae, created the race of Phoenixes, in hopes of encouraging humans in learning that after death, there is life. He wanted to show that no matter the differences between people and creatures, they are all the same. _

_ The third child, Lily, wanted to create creatures of elegance and grace so she created the Fae Folk of air, land, and sea. She created the Elves that live in the woods, the Faeries who live in the air, and the mermaids who live in the oceans. Each race Lily created is meant to guard their piece of the world and show that just because something is beautiful, doesn’t mean people have to tear it down. _

_ The fourth child, Daniel, wanted to oppose Nana’s creations as he firmly believes that if there is light, then there has to be dark. So he created the race of Daemons but he grew to love the Daemons he created. He wanted them to be just as powerful as the race of orcs his younger sister created, therefore creating the heavy competition between the two races. _

_ The fifth child, Christopher, adored the night and wanted to create creatures that could walk around. He wanted to create a species that could help the humans try to get over their fear of the dark by having his creations always being there. However, within his creation something went wrong and the race of Vampires was created. _

_ The last child, the sixth, Anne, created the race of Orcs wanting to prove to her siblings that not all monsters are evil. Some can be good. She wanted to prove that with her creations and she did. She loved them like no one else, always interfering and helping them thrive to become the most powerful. _

_ But no one counted on one of Hecate’s priests to want to create his own species. He counseled the goddess, asking questions upon questions about creation before creating his own. Impressed with the work of her priest, Hecate allowed the creatures to roam the world with the others. The priest wanted to create something both human and animal to get the world used to the creations that were now roaming around and so Changbin created the race of Shifters. _

_ Anne grew jealous, however. Jealous over the fact that a mere human had created a species that seemed to be more powerful than hers. In fact, all of the creations seemed to have been more powerful than hers and she didn’t like that. So she grew and grew her creatures until they seemed to be the most powerful but oh how hard the powerful hard. _

_ War waged between Anne’s Orcs and her sibling’s creatures. Thousands upon thousands were killed but Hecate and the gods never interfered with the affairs of the goddess of magic’s children. No one dared to get in between the war. _

_ That was until a five year old human boy got into the middle of a fight between an Orc and an elf. The five year old was killed on impacted and it angered the gods. No more should innocent lives of the humans should be killed for something as trivial as a greed for power. _

_ The War of the Magic Creatures came to a close. Anne and her Orcs were banished from the night and the day, cursed to walk only during the dusk and twilight. _

_ Anne was erased from the world, her name tarnished and never uttered again by her siblings for her mother. She became known as the Sixth, a story told to different children as a horror story. She was believed to have faded into the background, only coming out of her hiding spot when her children were allowed to walk. _

_ But what does one do in solitude for many years? _

Chan closes the book and looks to Yoohyeon and Jongho, both staring at him with wide eyes. They moved to the library after a short nap, the three of them oddly curled on Changkyun’s guest bed. Yoohyeon’s hands are in her lap, her fingers twisting others while Jongho sat next to her, his hands on his knees. Both look pale like they received the worst news they could get. 

And Chan understands. He never spoke of his baby sister because the gods forbid the story of Anne floating around. They wanted to erase everything and anything that was Anne in fear that she might try to step up again. 

But he never forgot her, keeping her memory alive in the corner of his mind. 

How Chan longs for his sister, though. He longs to see her smiling face with her eyes crinkling in the corners or how she would talk, waving her hands in the air as she talked about something her children would do. She would twirl red locks around her fingertips when she thought, grabbing Chan’s hands when something came up. 

Anne’s banishment was, is hard on Chan. He lost his best friend, the one person he knew would have fought heaven and hell for him to get his happy ending. She would have yelled and shouted at the Fates for being so cruel in taking Changbin away from him the first and second time. 

“You loved her,” Yoohyeon says shifting in her seat. Chan comes out of his head and smiles.

“She’s my sister. Of course I love her,” he says. “I love her just as much as Jongho loves you and you love Jongho.” 

Yoohyeon looks to Jongho who only hums. “You never told us about her.” 

“No I never did, which makes me wonder, Hyeonnie how did you know?” 

Yoohyeon had fallen asleep after her question, leaving Changkyun and Chan to stare at each other for the oldest left, claiming to call the others. This news is very important and very dangerous. If Yoohyeon is correct, then maybe those days of war and death were coming back. Maybe that’s why Changbin has been reincarnated again. 

Chan grows scared. 

If Anne is back with her Orcs, then there’s no telling what his sister has been doing since she’s been in hiding. It’s been thousands of years since the War of the Magic Children. Thousands of years to make plans, and to put them in action. Maybe her game has already begun. 

He bores his eyes into Yoohyeon’s grey ones. “How did you know?” he asks again. 

Yoohyeon looks to her lap and Jongho gets up from his chair. He places his hands on her shoulders causing Chan to be a little nervous. Was there something that Yoohyeon had done? Is she in trouble? Is she okay? 

“We’ve discovered something,” Jongho says quietly, almost like he’s not sure if he should be telling him anything. “Or really I did.”

Chan raises a brow. "What do you mean?" 

Yoohyeon flattens her fingers, taking a deep breath. She looks to Chan, her gaze slightly wavering. She has the same look that matches Jongho's. 

"Do you know how sometimes I dream when I sleep?" 

Chan blinks a couple of times. "You dream in your sleep?" 

"Well, yes. But they're never really dreams per say..." 

She draws out her words, leaving Chan more confused than when this conversation started. Honestly, he never noticed Yoohyeon dreaming, it wasn't something that she or really anyone had actively brought up. He feels bad though. How could he not notice this? Yoohyeon dreaming? But not really? 

Why would she...

Oh. 

_ Oh. _

Chan snaps his eyes towards his daughter, the sinking feeling in his stomach returning. If they are implying what Chan believes them to be implying then this is very dangerous. He sucks in a breath and moves towards another shelf in Changkyun's library. Skimming over the titles of books, he looks for the proper title, smiling a little bitterly. Has Fate once again fucked him over once again? 

Most likely. 

The Fates always did seem to have it out for him in some kind of aspect and he didn't understand why. He's not the brightest crayon in the box but that doesn't mean the Fate should always be after him but he supposes it is what is. 

You really can't fight Fate as much as you would like to. 

Plus Yoohyeon's gift is just that, a gift. A special and rare gift, but a gift nonetheless. 

Flipping open the book and turns back to the twins, keeping his gaze on the pages. "Clairvoyance," he begins. In the corner of his eyes, he sees Yoohyeon look and Jongho squeeze his sister's shoulders. "Is one of the most rare and powerful gifts that have discovered. Found mostly in the Nephilim and Daemon Oracle Lines, clairvoyance is a power not to be taken lightly. Those within the Oracle Lines gather their power through the Spirit World but it is only passed through certain ancestors of Nana and Daniel, hence the title Oracle Lines. What they see, however, is never set in stone as the future can be changed." 

This makes sense, Chan thinks. It makes a lot of sense. 

Yoohyeon has always had a knack of knowing things that she shouldn't. Knowing some quiet secrets or even knowing things that would only happen later. She would call it a feeling before smiling at him and looking away. He feels a little stupid now, because how didn't he notice? All the signs were there, pointing to her being a clairvoyant. 

And because of this power, oh. 

"What did you see?" Chan asks. "About the Sixth?" 

Yoohyeon shakes her head. "Not very much," she whispers. "Only that she's been gathering information and looking into the Shifters again. Something isn't right according to her plans."

“Again?” 

“It’s what I heard her say,” Yoohyeon’s voice grows quieter with each word that passes through her lips. She’s scared. 

Chan closes the book and gently shoves it back into the shelf. He crosses the room and lowers himself to look into Yoohyeon’s eyes. He smiles at her, grabbing her hands. 

“This is a wonderful gift,” he says. 

“Not really,” comes her response. “The things that I have seen, Daddie. I should have known from when you disappeared that it was going to happen because I saw us. All three of us in a field, in a yard with Jongho dying and you watching. It was,” she trails off, her hands beginning to shake. 

Chan holds on tighter. 

“Everything is going to be alright, Yoohyeon. I promise.” 

“But the Sixth.”

“Is something I have to worry about?”

“Or really all of us,” comes a new feminine voice. “I can’t believe you get yourself almost killed again, do you really need people to watch your every move, Christopher.” 

Irritation floods Chan’s system at the sound of his sister’s voice. He closes his eyes for a moment, trying to calm himself because he knows that he’s bound to get irritated. He always does when it comes to her. 

Very slowly, he stands and sighs. He doesn’t even want to turn but the low whistle coming from Jongho is enough for him to do so. He shoots his son a glare that the other pretends not to see before smiling sweetly at his sister. 

“Please call me Chan, Lily,” he says. “I would much appreciate it.” 

Lily snorts, a perfectly manicured hand covering her lips. She looks the same as the last time he saw her. Her long blonde hair falls in waves to her torso. Her dress is pink and massive, tulle bunched in waves. She fixes the flower crown on her head before lowering her hand down. 

“Then call me Minji.” She looks to Yoohyeon and Jongho before landing her crystal eyes where Yoohyeon is sitting. Her lips curve into a smile. “Who are you?” 

“Yoohyeon.”

“What a pretty girl you are, Yoohyeonnie. I’m sure that Chanyeol and Sehun would have a lot of fun with you in their courts.” Minji walks closer to Yoohyeon, the train of dress flowing behind her like water. There is an ill intent in the room which is more than enough for Chan to step in front of his injured daughter, fangs on display as he hisses. 

“Do not touch her, Minji,” he says low in his throat. “She’s not a plaything.” 

Minji laughs. “It was just a simple question, Channie. No need to get your panties in a twist.” 

Chan hisses again. “I meant it. I don’t want your Fae touching my children.” 

Minji raises a brow. “Children? Since when did you have children?” 

Chan rolls his eyes and closes his mouth. He stays in front of Yoohyeon though. “For a long time. If you would leave Chanyeol’s home, you would have already met them.” 

“I didn’t think you would have been the one to get children first,” she says, looking at Jongho who hisses at her. “Feisty little things you have.” She looks back to Yoohyeon. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just think she’ll be a wonderful addition to Chanyeol’s court. Pretty and doll like. It’s just what he needs.” 

“Chanyeol doesn’t need more dolls.” 

Minji pouts. “But Channie.” 

“Stay away from my daughter, Lily. I will put your head on a stick and parade it around if you touch her.” 

“Fine,” Minji says. She glances at Yoohyeon once more before turning on her heel and walking towards the exit. “I don’t know how he managed to do it, but Changkyun has gathered all of us right now. I would put leashes on your children, Christopher. You know how our siblings are. Nana will be calling the meeting shortly.” 

Minji leaves and Chan sighs. His siblings have always been a handful to deal with and quite frankly, he wishes that he lost his memory once more. He didn’t want to deal with his handful siblings and dear gods, if Minji knew about him almost getting killed, then who knows what Jongdae or Nana are going to say. Those two are far more protective than Chan is with Yoohyeon and Jongho. 

Yoohyeon laughs behind him. “Do you want to know?” she asks and Chan has inkling. 

“Do I want to?” 

“Aunt Nana missed you.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Chan grumbles. “Let’s just head to the meeting room before Changkyun send someone ridiculous to find us, yeah?” 

Yoohyeon laughs again. 

When they exit the library, Chan can feel his thoughts going to different places. He thinks about the information about Yoohyeon and her being a clairvoyant. How hard it must have been for his daughter, in hiding the information about her abilities. Chan wouldn’t have yelled at her but he understands. Clairvoyants outside of the nephilim and the Daemon species are extremely rare. Most of them aren’t treated in the best way so maybe Cha understands why she didn’t tell anyone. 

He looks to his children, Jongho pushing Yoohyeon’s chair. Both of them are laughing at something stupid that Jongho probably said. Their smiles are bright and enough for his heart to feel warm. He can’t help the fond smile that makes its way on his face. He would do anything to make sure that those smiles stay there. 

And that means, figuring out their next step if Anne is really back. He doesn’t not believe Yoohyeon, he just wants to know why now. Why did Anne chose now to make her comeback?

Chan takes a deep breath when he makes his way into the meeting room. He’s greeted with the sight of a long table with seven massive chairs that match the room’s decor. Changkyun’s taste comes out again, with bright pastels and ugly cherubs everywhere. It’s any wonder why someone hasn’t said anything about the horrible taste his brother has.

The head of the table isn’t here yet, but the three chairs on the right side are taken already. The first chair is taken by Changkyun who smiles brightly at him before turning to his left and mumbling to Hyunwoo who acts like a guard. Hyungwon is on the opposite side of Changkyun, rolling his eyes before shooting an exasperated look to Chan. 

Chan smiles sheepishly. 

Next to Changkyun are lightening gold eyes that only smile at Chan before flickering to both Yoohyeon and Jongho. The man’s lips curves into a smile, making him look almost kitten like. His hair is in gentle waves that frame his face to enhance his features. He stands, and brushes off his top, making Chan feel like he’s underdressed for such an occasion. He compares his jeans and t-shirt to the man’s black and white sleeveless button down and semi tight pants. 

The man laughs, the sound high pitched. “You don’t have to compare, Channie,” he says, his voice sweet. “We know your situation. Kyunnie told us all.” 

Chan glances at Changkyun who mumbles something under his breath. “Can you blame me, though? You look like you got out of some kind of photo shoot.” 

Jongdae sits when Chan reaches his chair and follows his lead. It’s only then that Chan notices the two standing behind his brother, one of which is short with hair redder than Jongdae’s eyes. He glares at Chan before getting nudged by the person standing next to him. The man is taller than the redhead and pretty with his slicked back blonde hair and smoldering ink eyes. He smiles gently at the redhead before mumbling something into his ear. 

Minji smacks her lips loudly, her gaze on Yoohyeon and a smile on her lips. 

“Did you know, Dae,” she says, “that Channie has children?” 

“I did,” Jongdae says, nodding his head to Yoohyeon and Jongho. “Hello you two.” 

Minji pouts, grumbling under her breath. Jongho grumbles a reply while Yoohyeon waves quietly, putting her hands back in her lap. 

“You shouldn’t pout, Minnie,” a voice sing songs. “Taeyeonnie won’t like that!”

“Hush Mina. Taeyeonnie isn’t here.” 

The voice giggles. A little light floats above Minji’s head. It circles around the flower crown before the light grows humanoid. The girl is tiny as she sits on the cord of Minji’s flower crown. Her hair is long and almost covers her purple dress. She’s too tiny for Chan to get a good look at her but he can feel that she’s looking at him. 

“I’m Mina!” she says. “Minnie doesn’t know how to introduce people but we’re trying to make her friendlier.” 

Chan blinks a couple of times before laughing, not paying attention to how red Minji’s face gets. Jongdae and Changkyun join in on the chuckling. 

“Ily has always been like this,” Changkyun snickers. “But it’s cute and a bit nice that she’s trying to change.” 

“Shut up Daniel,” Minji hisses with no bite in her words. 

“It’s true though. You always did try to better yourself but it always failed after a long amount of time. Maybe this time it’ll actually work?” 

“You’re insufferable.” 

“I’m your brother, of course I am.” 

Chan tries really hard not to laugh, he really does. But the quiet bubbles of laughter that fall from his lips are signs that he couldn’t do what he wanted. Minji shoots him a glare. 

He takes back what he thought earlier. While yes, there are times that he wants to forget that he has siblings and sometimes (albeit most of the time) he can’t stand them, there’s something about having all of your siblings in one place, bantering back and forth. He always feels like he’s a lot younger without any worries, listening to Minji and Changkyun argue about different things. 

There’s a tap on his shoulder and lips by his ear. 

“Do Jongho and I argue like that?” Yoohyeon asks. 

Chan snorts. “You two are worse,” he says.

Chan gets smacked. 

There’s a knock at the door causing all heads to turn towards the sound. In the entrance is tall woman who zooms in on Chan. She doesn’t look anywhere else before she’s bolting into the room, her white dress flowing behind her. Chan counts to five before he’s engulfed in a hug. 

“Are you okay?” the woman shouts, pulling Chan away from her chest. She pats him all around, checking to see if there are any injuries to his person. 

Chan sighs. 

“I’m fine, Nana.” 

Nana huffs and forces Chan to stand up. She turns him around to continue inspecting. Chan lets his sister do as she pleases, not wanting to get on her bad side. When she’s done, she sighs in relief before engulfing him in a hug again. 

“I was worried,” she says. “When Kyunnie reached out, I really thought something worse had happened and I came as soon as I could.” 

“I promise I’m fin-” 

“And your kids!” Nana shirks. “Yoohyeon let me see you.” 

Yoohyeon smiles sheepishly as she lets her aunt look her up and down. There are a couple of tsks coming from Nana’s mouth but most of the sounds are hums of approval. Gently, she lets Yoohyeon sit back in her wheelchair before turning to Jongho who sighs. He too doesn’t tell his aunt no, Chan chuckling on the side, remembering the first and only time, Jongho told Nana no. 

Once Nana is done making sure Chan’s little family is mainly free from injuries, she clears her throat and heads to the front of the table. She eyes her siblings carefully and clears her throat. 

“Well hello,” she says, patting down the folds in her dress. “I’m sure everyone else is fine? Shall we get started then?” 

Changkyun snickers behind his hand before sliding his gaze towards Yoohyeon. “We have a clairvoyant,” he says and the air once calming air of the meeting room turns tense in a matter of seconds. Changkyun’s soft gaze becomes hard like he’s frustrated at something before looking to Nana whose expression is the same. “And she believes that the Sixth is coming.” 

Minji scoffs. “The Sixth? Anne? Anne was put to shame. There’s no way for her to come back.” 

Jongdae fixes his gaze on Chan. “How can you be sure?” he asks. “Because Minji is correct. Anne was banished.” 

“That doesn’t mean much,” Chan whispers. “She can still be alive and planning against the gods. Against us.” 

“I call a lie,” Minji says. “Do you even know who this clairvoyant is? They could be lyi-” 

“I’m not lying,” Yoohyeon says her voice like ice. “I wouldn’t lie about this. Not when I know now how much damage the Sixth has caused.” 

Yoohyeon stands from her wheelchair and moves to stand next to her father. She grips onto Chan’s shoulder, her fingernails digging slightly into his skin. She recounters the events she told her father, spilling things that even the others knew. Yells and shouts were thrown across the room, most of them directed towards Yoohyeon for lying and making up stories. 

The meeting seemed to go awry when Minji had enough and stands up, slamming her hands against the table. Her crystal eyes are glowing like diamonds the harder she glares at Yoohyeon. 

“You speak nothing but lies,” she says lowly. “If you spoke the truth then the Nephilim and Daemon Oracle Lines would have seen something but they have not. Therefore you lie and seek attention.” 

“You believe what you want, Aunt Minji,” Yoohyeon replies back. “I’m only telling you the truth of what I saw.” 

“Mina,” Minji hisses through her teeth, “set up one of the rooms in Chanyeol’s home. We’re bringing a liar home.” 

Everything happens too fast. 

As fast as he can, Jongho jumps on top of the table, crouching low, like he’s about to attack Minji for taking his sister away from him. His teeth are bared and loud hisses pass through his lips. Jongdae’s men pull his chair out and stand in front of them, their hands in front ready for an attack. Hyungwon and Hyunwoo watch with mild interest, while Nana only sighs. 

Chan’s about to grab his son, when he notices that Jongho’s hands are shaking, like he’s scared. Chan thinks back to the yard where Yoohyeon was almost killed and how hopeless he might have felt there. He wonders if hearing Minji wanting to take Yoohyeon away has Jongho’s mind turning in the worst possible way. 

With a frown, he reaches out, only to be stopped by Yoohyeon. She shakes her head and wraps her hand around Jongho’s wrist. He doesn’t flinch at the touch but he stops hissing. 

“She’s not taking me anywhere,” she says. “I promise.” 

At her words, Jongho finally turns around, passing a glance at Chan before looking at his sister. Jumping down from the table, he wraps his arms around her and scoops her up, sitting on her wheelchair. He holds her close and hisses at anyone who stares too long. He’s like overprotective mama bear protecting her cub which Chan doesn’t blame him for. 

“Enough of this,” Chan says looking back to his sister. “I believe Yoohyeon is telling the truth. We need a plan and a good one. Anne is coming back and she’s had many years to plan her revenge.” 

“Your daught-” 

It’s Chan’s turn to hiss. He bares his fangs at Minji. “She’s not.” 

Jongdae clears his throat and turns his attention to Changkyun and Nana who are watching the entire exchange. They’re huddled together like they’re sharing a secret with each other, something only the two of them know. 

“Do you care to share?” he asks. 

Nana sighs. “For now, we will believe Yoohyeon. Changkyun and I will contact the Oracle Lines and talk to them but for now we prepare for war against the Sixth.” Nana looks to Yoohyeon. “Where do you believe that Anne will attack first?” 

Yoohyeon purses her lips and looks to fingers. Chan find the movement add as she would only do this if… 

“What have you seen?” Chan asks. 

Yoohyeon winces and Jongho holds onto her tighter.

“Yoohyeon,” Chan says again. “What did you see?”

She remains quiet for a few minutes, not a single soul daring to say anything in fear of both Chan and Jongho hissing at them. It’s only when Yoohyeon looks up, a small blue light leaving her eyes does she finally say something. 

“Fire,” she says finally. “I see fire.”

“Fire?” Jongdae questions.

“In the mountains,” she whispers. “And in the trees. I hear them screaming, begging the gods to save them from their fate. The dryads have abandoned their trees and the naiads their waters. The selkies leave their skin if it is too close the flames but most of all, I see death. I see the face of who I believe is the Sixth. She’s vicious and vile, always waiting in the shadows as her creatures continue to cause destruction upon the mountains.”

Something doesn’t bode well with Chan. “Who?”

Yoohyeon lets out a soft hiss. “The Oracles. The Sixth will attack the Oracle Lines, if she hasn’t already.”

The room stills. Nana looks to Changkyun while Changkyun turns to Hyunwoo. Hyunwoo is gone in a flash of blue flames. 

Nana straightens her back and looks to Chan. “Do you believe her and her claim? Why do you believe her in the first place? You’re not one just to believe on blind faith, Christopher. There’s a reason.”

Realization passes through Changkyun’s eyes when Chan glances at him. He sets his lips in a thin line and nods. 

“I believe the Fates,” Chan begins, “are telling us that this is when we need to do something about Anne once and for all. I wouldn’t say this without all the Creators present.” 

Minji sighs. “Not all the Creators are present. Cha-” 

“Changbin has been reincarnated and is walking among the wolf Shifters who I was with.” The room begins to bleed with confusion before Chan’s words really set in.


	6. [ F I V E ]

This is one of the moments that Chan wishes he didn’t regain his memories. 

If he didn’t regain his memories then he didn’t have to go back to the place that almost killed his children. Just the thought of going back to Jaebum’s pack house is enough to send chills down Chan’s spine and horrible memories to resurface. Yes, he is more powerful than the last time he was there, but that didn’t take away the memory of Yoohyeon bleeding out or watching Jongho struggle in getting to his twin. It will always be there no matter how much he doesn’t want it to be. 

And it gets better. 

Both Yoohyeon and Jongho are going back with him. 

He questioned their sanity for the last three days, wondering if this is really what they wanted, but much like himself, they are stubborn. (And really, Chan has himself to thank for that.) They fought him tooth and nail to go back to the pack house, claiming that they didn’t trust the wolf Shifters to give Chan back when asked. They had to be there just in case. 

And if Yoohyeon and Jongho’s stubbornness wasn’t enough, Changkyun decided to come along, bringing with him Hyungwon who only grumbled most of the way. 

But maybe it’s a good thing, to have companions while he travels. 

“Hyungwon,” Changkyun calls out with a sweet smile, “do you think that we can stop again? I need to clear my mind.” 

Or maybe not.

Chan sighs and leans against his seat, his gaze looking out the window. It had been a long couple of days since the meeting. Both Nana and Changkyun were having trouble in reaching their Oracle Lines, barely being able to thwart the massacre that was about to happen. Minji and Jongdae began to believe in Yoohyeon’s powers much to their dismay but at least now Minji listens. 

Minji left with Jongdae to their homes, to warn their creations of what is too come with promises that they will be back by the end of the week. Nana stayed at Changkyun’s home while the host was out with Chan, commanding her species from the corner of Chan’s room. And the five of them were to travel back to the Jaebum’s pack land to talk both to Jaebum and Changbin to see if maybe they could jog Changbin’s memory. 

Chan, honestly, wasn’t sure if he had hope or not. It has been more than a thousand years since the last time the two of them talked face to face, at least Chan, the Creator to Changbin, the Creator. But the biggest question that Chan has is that, if they were able to “wake up” Changbin, then would everything still be the same or would things be different? While he was there, he really didn’t spend a lot of time with Changbin so it’s hard for him to say if the personality that this Changbin has is the same as Chan’s Changbin. 

But this Changbin has been trained to attack Vampires on sight. What if this Changbin attacked him? Would Chan let him? Would he be just as hopeless as he was before? 

Something knocks at his head.

“We’ll be fine,” Yoohyeon mumbles. “Stop over thinking things. It will only bring more questions that you might not want the answer to. Besides, this time they can’t hurt us.” 

“Hyeonnie is right!” Changkyun sing songs. “Jaebum wouldn’t be as dumb as to attack two Creators when they’re coming to warn you about something. Imagine the bigger war the Shifters would be in. The Vampires are already vicious enough but my creations?” Chan looks over to Changkyun who forced Jongho to lay in his lap a little while ago. At first, the young Vampire resisted but the lull of the car was enough was enough for him to close his eyes and drift off to rest. Changkyun looked almost peaceful running his fingers through Jongho’s hair, but there’s this glint in his eyes that Chan is sure he doesn’t want to know what it means. 

The rest of the ride is taken quietly as if not to wake Jongho. Yoohyeon had draped herself over her father and fallen asleep. Her presence is comforting to Chan, like a warm blanket that grounded him and their mission of what they needed to go. 

Hyungwon pulls the car to a halt outside of a town that doesn’t look familiar to Chan. Most of the buildings are little cottages varying in different colors. People mill around, most of which don’t pay attention to the car but there are some who watch it with hawk eyes. 

“It’s an odd car coming into pack territory,” Hyungwon mumbles. “Of course they would be wary of it.” 

“Are we supposed to be meeting Jaebum here or someone else?” Chan questions startling Hyungwon. He glances over with wide eyes before taking a deep breath almost as if he’s trying to calm himself. Chan smiles to himself. 

“He didn’t say. Just to meet within the town limits. Someone will escort us to the house.”

Hyungwon pulls up to a corner store and gets out of the car to look like he’s stretching his legs. Someone walks up to him which has Chan’s hand on the door handle. It’s a little dumb because Hyungwon does know how to defend himself but still. His memories of this place aren’t the best things in the world.

The Daemon and the Shifter talk for a long moment, Hyungwon’s features going from kind to a sort of rage. He’s sure that the Shifter notices if the tiny smirk is anything to go by but he continues on with his words which Hyungwon isn’t having. He waves off the man, turning on his heel and opening the car door.

He doesn’t look to Chan which leads him to think that maybe the man said something that Hyungwon didn’t like. He doesn’t dare to ask. 

A white suburban pulls a little ways from Changkyun’s Audi. The lights flash and off they go again. 

Chan watches Hyungwon as he gripped the wheel tightly, his knuckles turning white. The air in the car becomes stifling and heavy, almost too unbearable to breathe properly. 

“Hyungwon,” Chan says quietly. “Calm down.” 

The Daemon looks at Chan, his eyes a blazing red. That can’t be good. “I’m going to kill that man.” 

“Breathe.” 

“I’m going to severe his head and place it on a stick, parading it around the entire town for them to see.”

“Hyungwon.” 

“How dare he,” he growls. “How fucking dare he.” 

Hyungwon’s growl is loud enough to wake the rest of the car. Jongho sits up rather quickly from his uncle’s lap, his mouth opened in a non threatening hiss. The grip around Chan’s neck becomes tighter as a low hiss comes from Yoohyeon’s mouth. But it's Changkyun’s rude awakening that takes the cake. He  _ yelps  _ forcing his body up and slamming his head against the roof of the car. It takes a couple of moments for everyone to get their bearings. 

Just in time too. 

The house looks a little different from what Chan remembers. Instead of the massive yellow and white cottage, the walls are painted a soft shade of blue with white trimmings. It looks a little smaller than before but that might be because of the two massive buildings that sit next to it. 

There is no one playing around in the yard which is slightly, unnerving as there is always someone there. It was just the nature of the home but maybe their presence would scare away the children. 

Hyungwon stops the car at the same time the white suburban stops. He doesn’t wait to turn off the car before he’s climbing out of the vehicle and stalking his way towards the white one. He  _ rips _ the suburban door open, yanking the driver out. It’s the same man from before. 

Changkyun blinks a couple of times watching him before gently moving Jongho off his lap. “Be back!” he says with a smile. 

He climbs out of the car and reaches where Hyungwon is choking the man. He doesn’t hit Hyungwon, only words fall from his lips. Changkyun’s expression is passive all throughout the conversation the three of them have but Chan knows his brother enough. With a sigh, he taps on Yoohyeon’s arms to release him before getting out of the car. 

He closes the car down and almost wants to open it again. The air is heavy with fear and regret but also anger and malevolence. 

“Is everything alright?” Chan dares to ask. Changkyun turns his head slowly and smiles as sickly sweet as he can. 

“Everything is fine and dandy,” Changkyun lies. “We’re just having a talk with this child here.” 

Every inch of Changkyun’s body screams at Chan that he’s lying and while the man most likely deserves Changkyun’s anger (the older man does  _ not _ get angry easily) he doesn’t want this wolf pack to hate him more than they already do.

“Hyungwon, please, put the man down,” Chan says walking towards the two. “Please. We need this to go right.” 

“I want to kill him,” Hyungwon mumbles embedding his nails into the man’s neck. Bubbles of red come to the top of the skin, causing Chan to look away. He doesn’t need to the smell of blood now. He hasn’t fed in about a week. “I don’t care for the Shifters if they’re going to act like this.” 

“But we must, Wonnie,” Changkyun says, laying a gentle hand on Hyungwon’s bicep. “Besides, I am right here and I’m not going anywhere.” 

Hyungwon growls but drops the man on the ground, not caring to listen to the gasping of air. He spins on his heels to look Changkyun up and down before slamming his lips onto Changkyun’s causing the other to smile into their kiss. Chan looks away, as the kiss becomes gentler and more intimate, something he knows he shouldn’t be looking at. 

Instead, he focuses on the Shifter on the ground, raising a brow. “I’m not the only scary one,” he says. “Go get Jaebum.” 

“That won’t be necessary,” calls out a voice. “Jaebum has sent me instead.” 

Chan takes a couple of deep breaths before turning and looking. Changbin smiles at Chan, his gold blue eyes twinkling with mischief and delight. His arms are crossed over his chest as he glances down at the man, his own brow raised. 

“I thought I said, kindly,” Changbin says. 

The man opens his mouth to say something but Changbin shakes his head. “I’m very sorry about this. I don’t know what has gotten into some of the men. They’re acting on their own.” 

Chan remains frozen looking at Changbin, too many emotions passing through his mind. He blinks a couple of times, and feels something pinching him. He stops the yelp that wants to pass through his lips as he takes a very,  _ very _ good look at this Changbin standing in front of him. 

Why?

Because the Changbin he had left had blue eyes, not gold blue. The Changbin that had gold eyes… 

Chan sucks in a breath. “Binnie?” he whispers out. 

There’s a look of surprise on Changbin’s face but it melts away into a soft dimpled smile. “Hi Squish,” he says. 

Chan nearly breaks down. 

Changkyun told Chan to go and talk to Changbin before they would go see Jaebum. He didn’t mind waiting outside for them to come but Chan made both Changkyun and Hyungwon to leave the poor wolf Shifter alone. 

It’s quiet between the two of them, the air filled with nothing but the snapping of twigs and the rustling of leaves. Chan has opened his mouth a couple of times to maybe say something but everything just falls flat. What do you say to someone after so long? And this person walking next to him, he’s Changbin but at the same time, he’s not. There’s just something about this Changbin that is a mixture of both the Changbin that brought him breakfast in the mornings and the Changbin who  _ would _ be the breakfast in the mornings. 

Chan feels his ears turn red. He shouldn’t be thinking of that. 

“I’m surprised to see that this area hasn’t changed very much,” Changbin says with a hum in his voice. “Thousands of years have passed and isn’t much of a difference.” 

“More people,” Chan points out. “And more soon.” 

Changbin laughs. “I suppose there is.”

Chan rolls his eyes at himself because seriously, Chan, what the fuck? Can you not make a conversation with someone? 

Apparently not. 

“How did you get your memories back?” Chan asks after a few minutes of silence. “Before I left here, I’m pretty sure you wanted to kill me.” 

“Of course I did,” Changbin says causing Chan to wince. “You were the enemy that I was taught to kill on sight. I know better now.” 

Clicking his tongue, Changbin continues to lead the way, the path becoming familiar to Chan. Neither one of them talk again, until they reach the field of moonlit flowers. 

“I think here,” Changbin says. “I think when we were here, I started remembering but I kept pushing them away. Nothing made sense, then. I kept seeing wars, people dying, goddess, and things I couldn’t explain to others. But the more I thought about it, the more certain places felt familiar. I had déjà vu a couple of times but nothing could compare the night of the fire.” 

A soft wind passes through the field causing Chan to watch the closed buds move. Changbin turns around, the blue in his eyes fading. The sight is enough for Chan to feel his heart in his throat. 

“When you were fighting Jaebum, I had this flashback to the night when you fought Kyrian or really when you got beaten by Kyrian. You didn’t want to frighten the children in the shadows so you kept your movements slow and fidgety like a human’s.” 

Chan remembers that night like the back of his hand. It’s one of the vivid memories he has with Changbin. They were walking home one night, when Chan heard screams. He didn’t mean to run off but he did and he almost asked the Fates to kill the man immediately. What kind of man would beat a child who was looking for food or even looking for food to feed their siblings? No one in their right mind would do such a thing, so Chan stepped in. He got beat, yes, but he was able to steal the man’s’ pocket change and in turn give it to the kids.

Changbin had cried that night as he watched Chan’s wounds closed. He cried as he continuously told Chan that he was an idiot and low behold, the might child of Hecate getting beat by a mere human when he had just created the Vampire race.

Chan takes a step towards a ranting Changbin. 

“And then I was standing in a royal court room,” Changbin says, his gold eyes wide, “where you stood and they  _ begged _ you to turn them. You denied them and Lady Themis thought you were insane.” 

Themis to this day still thinks Chan is insane for not taking the offer the king and queen had given him. He’s forgotten the name of the fallen kingdom but he’ll never forget the night they spent there. He’ll never forget the soft kisses that were exchanged until the moonlight and Changbin flipping one of the guards when he got too close. 

Chan takes another step closer. 

“And then we were walking to Atlantis,” Changbin continues, his eyes losing focus as he goes deeper into his memories, “something about Nana and Changkyun almost blowing away the city. Your mother had just gone to sleep and all of you were restless and confused. None of you knew how to rule a new species of creatures without your help.”

The journey to Atlantis is one of Chan’s favorite memories. The entire way to the island city had Changbin marching along the road with a pout on his lips. He ranted and ranted about how  _ stupid _ Chan’s siblings were and  _ this is not how Lady Hecate raised her children, Christopher! Are your siblings actually insane!? What if they actually sunk the city? The gods just slept!  _

Chan stands in front of Changbin and doesn’t breathe. He just stands and stares which causes Changbin to shut his mouth. Another quiet moment passes between the two of them before Changbin is reaching for Chan. A gentle hand against his cheek and the bright gold eyes he’s ever seen. The touch is soft and familiar. His stomach does flips because this, this is what’s been missing in his life. 

He wants to cry. 

He wants to cry so badly but he can’t. 

The only thing Chan can do wrap his arms around Changbin’s waist and pull him close. He closes his eyes and releases his breath, taking in the scent of Changbin. His mind is filled with Changbin. His touch his filled with Changbin. His soul screams Changbin. 

“I made you wait a little while,” Changbin whispers. “Didn’t I?”

Chan breathes. 

It’s another moment that Chan decides he much rather not have his memories. He stands with Changbin by his side and Changkyun’s wiggling his eyebrows like he knows what happened between the two of them. His cheeks warm at the thought of Changkyun putting something into Jaebum’s head before sighing and rolling his eyes. He shouldn’t be scared of his brother, he’s an idiot but not that big of an idiot.

Yoohyeon and Jongho are curious, but they make no move from where they are from. Chan raises a brow at the two of them. Instead of Yoohyeon looking like she’s being protected, she looks like the one who’s protecting Jongho. Questions raise in Chan’s eyes but Yoohyeon only shakes her head. Later he guesses.

Along the way, Changkyun must have calmed Hyungwon down, because he stands in the far corner with his arms crossed over each other. There’s a pout on his lips, like he didn’t get what he wanted but maybe for the life of one of Changbin’s creatures is worth the pout. Plus it looks like Changkyun is enjoying the said pout as he sends what would be heart eyes in Hyungwon’s direction.

He’s always been curious on what goes on between the two of them and the kiss only fuels his curiosity more. Changkyun has always been the type not to care if he was either sleeping or kissing someone but the way he is with Hyungwon seems different.

But it’s not only Hyungwon that has Chan questioning the nature of the relationship but that’s a question for another day.

The meeting place looks to be in Jaebum’s office or what feels like Jaebum’s office is. He sits at his desk, his eyes watching Chan’s every move. The couches are different, a bright red to match with golden walls. New pictures are around the room, along with knick knacks that weren’t there before.

Chan’s eyes move from inspecting the room to Jaebum. There’s a sinister smile on his face the more he stares down Chan but Chan holds his head up high and stares right back. He’s not the Chan that he thinks he knows. Jaebum raises a brow at this but keeps his smile on his face like he’s won the match. Chan isn’t going to let him, though. Not without a fight.

“You could have started without us,” Changbin stays with a raise of his brow.

“I didn’t want you to miss everything,” Jaebum says, looking away from Chan to Changbin. A faint smirk graces his lips as he talks. “Heechul is supposed to becoming with Youngjae to hear what they have to say as well. It’s not every day we get two Creators coming to us to speak to us about something. Especially one that doesn’t have such a good memory here.”

“I have a wonderful time here,” Chan says crossing his arms over his chest, a small swell of pride bubbling in his chest. He might have won the small intimation battle with the alpha. “I just didn’t like the ending.”

“Pity but what can we do? We’re trying to avenge our Creator’s death.”

“I’m surprised you’re not attacking then.”

“Our war is with you, Christopher, not with Lord Daniel. I would much rather be on his good side then attack him.”

Changkyun snorts. “And what makes you think that you’ll be on my good side if you attack and kill Chan? My Daemons will come after you,” he says, his voice dropping several octaves. The air in the room changes a little bit as the Creator of the Daemons and the pack leader have a stare down. “Don’t think that I’m not scary. Channie has taught his Vampires kindness. I, on the other hand, have taught my Daemons to be demons. They may not be the same thing but I can assure you that we are scarier.”

“Please do not scare the children, Changkyun,” Changbin says with a soft smile. “They need to like you, not fear you.”

Changkyun laughs, smacking Hyungwon on his arm. “But Changbinnie, please. It’s not like you’re going to sit there quietly and let them kill Channie.”

Changkyun’s words cause Jaebum to freeze before looking at Changbin with wide eyes. He just stares, the sinister look he was giving Chan, long gone. His mouth drops open and his face turning five different shades of pale. “I don’t believe this,” he says.

“What’s there to believe?” Changbin smiles sweetly.

“I thought maybe she might have been wrong,” Jaebum mumbles not answering Changbin’s question. “But she wasn’t.”

“Who?” Yoohyeon questions.

Jaebum barely passes her a glance, his eyes still looking at Changbin. There’s a new light in them, almost like he couldn’t believe that Changbin is standing in front of him. He blinks a couple of times just as the door opens and two figures stepped into the room. Chan steps in front of Yoohyeon and Jongho. He knows this smell.

“You didn’t answer my sister’s question,” Jongho says. It looks like he hasn’t smelled them just yet.

The smell comes from the redhead with pouty lips. His eyes are darker than inky as he looks around the room, his gaze landing on Yoohyeon. His lip curls. The other man stands with his hands on hips and a brow raised. He looks unimpressed that he has to be here, his green eyes rolling around.

“You called dearest alpha?” The green eyed man says.

Yoohyeon and Jongho stiffen, the scent finally getting to them. If looks could kill, the one Jongho gives the red head is one that would have him dead on the spot.

“What the fuck?” he says. “We’re going to be working with you?”

The red head laughs. “Likewise, pretty boy. Maybe this time, Jaebum will give me the order to kill you quicker than before. I’ve been craving spilled Vampire blood since the three of you got away.

Jongho hisses. “Shut up.”

Chan sighs. “Jongho, enough.”

Jongho glares at the red headed man, his eyes never leaving him. The two of them have an intense stare down and while it will drive Chan up the wall with the glares, he knows that he can’t stop his son from looking over. At least he’s not attacking.

Yoohyeon on the other hand is just staring at the red head like he’s going to give her the answers she needs. Maybe it’s to make the man uncomfortable because he’s beginning to fidget under the gazes of Chan’s twins. And maybe the tiny laugh that comes out of his mouth is the result of that. It’s what the redhead gets for almost killing his children.

If only there’s more pain, he thinks to himself. If only.

“Heechul, what was the name of the lady who came in here one day to give a prophecy?” Jaebum asks, cutting off Chan’s thoughts of the red haired man and his children.

“Huh?” the redhead questions.

“A few years ago, a lady stopped by and told us that we would be in the center of attention for a while by someone but she wouldn’t tell us more than that.”

“Oh Diana?”

“Yes, Diana.”

Chan raises a brow. Diana?

“What about her?”

“Do you remember what else she said?”

“No,” Heechul says slightly frustrated. “What’s this about?”

“Youngjae?”

The red head shakes his head as he continues to look away from Yoohyeon’s piercing gaze.

Jaebum looks back to Changbin and shakes his head. “Nothing. I’ll explain later.” He clears his throat and looks to Changkyun. “Now do you want to tell me why I have two Creators in my office and one of them I’m thinking about killing?”

Chan rolls his eyes and looks to Changkyun. It looks like depending on Jaebum’s mood is if they’re going to help or not but Chan finds himself not caring. They really already have what they came for. He glances at Changbin who smiles at him before he looks to Jaebum.

“You’ve told me the story of the Creators,” Chan begins, “but how well do you know them?”

“Well enough,” Jaebum says.

“How many of them are there?”

“Six. You, Lord Daniel, Lord Chen, Lady Nana, Lady Lily, and the Creator of the Shifters. We never learned his name.”

“Wrong,” Changkyun says. “There aren’t six Creators. There are seven.”

Jaebum shakes his head. “Six. We’ve always been taught six.”

Heechul scoffs. “What kind of education have you been taught? There are seven Creators. You forgot Lady Anne of the Orcs.”

“Who?”

“Lady Anne.” The hostility in Heechul’s eyes is replaced with shifty eyes. He looks around the room like maybe something or someone would be coming after him if they knew what he’s talking about.

Yoohyeon chuckles beside Chan. “It’s rare for someone to know about Lady Anne,” she says, finally looking away from Youngjae. The Shifter releases his breath, only to suck it back in when he realizes that Jongho’s fangs are bared and he’s a few moments away from pouncing. Yoohyeon places a hand on Jongho’s shoulder to calm him down before continuing. “I would have thought that no one would.” She looks to Jaebum and smiles. “Lady Anne is the last of Lady Hecate’s children. She created the Orcs and got greedy with power. Not much is told about her because she’s the one that you should be scared of.”

Jaebum shakes his head. “This is all lies.”

“It’s not,” Changbin says. “If you can believe that I’m who you think I am, why is believing in another Creator so hard?”

Youngjae raises a brow. “Who the fuck are you, then?”

Jongho hisses causing Youngjae to take a step back. Hyungwon scoffs in the corner, mumbling to himself.

Changbin only smiles.

“This Vampire is correct,” Heechul says. He takes a step towards Yoohyeon like he’s curious about her but Jongho pulls her back and hisses at him. Rolling his eyes, Heechul stops moving. “It’s even odder for someone else to know about her.”

“She’s family.”

Heechul snorts. “Ah, yes.”

“How could you forget?” Hyungwon asks, crossing his arms over his chest. Chan thinks the Daemon looks like a model again when he stands with one hip cocked to the side and his body language almost sassy. Maybe it’s the designer clothes, or maybe it’s the hair… it has to be the hair. “These are the crazy ones, Heechul and the crazy ones always stick together.”

Chan has to stop himself from laughing.

He knew this meeting was going to be an interesting one but what he wasn’t expecting was how well one of the wolves is versed in the Creator stories. Only those with access to the Sacred Libraries of Old are able to read about Anne which makes Chan wonder, who is this Heechul person and why does he know?

Chan studies Heechul for a moment. He takes in the dark hair that’s slightly curled and his piercing green eyes. He’s lean, almost too lean for a wolf Shifter and the energy he admits feels almost fake. Like he’s hiding something but what? What could Jaebum’s trusted advisor have to hide from Jaebum and the rest of his pack?

Heechul notices Chan staring at him and give him a small smile. There’s a flash of orange in the other’s eyes before it’s gone.

Orange?

No one’s eyes flash orange.

“Fine,” Jaebum says. “Let’s say that Lady Anne is real and let’s say that you’re the Creator of the Shifters, how the fuck do we know you’re not lying to us? All of this can be a massive hoax and you’re just in cahoots with the person who killed our Creator. I sure as shit don’t believe anything that has been coming out of anyone’s mouths.”

“I can show you,” Yoohyeon offers.

“Yoohyeon,” Chan warns. “You don’t know the extent of your powers just yet.”

“I could still show. Besides, Uncle Changkyun is here and he can help guide me.”

Chan doesn’t like the sound of this but she has a point. She always has a point. He nods.

Youngjae begins laughing. “You think that Changbin is the Creator of the Shifters? What have you been smoking, alpha?”

Jaebum rolls his eyes and Chan almost wants to deck the Shifter. Of course, he knows that Changbin’s name never showed up in any of the text. It was at the mercy of Changbin and his family as he was the only Creator that was technically born human. If someone had found out that one of the Creators was human, then who knows what would have happened. So they asked for Changbin’s name to be removed from the books.

When the two of them travelled places, it was always Chan travelling with his assistant, a man named Lewis. He would always be hiding in the shadows, trying to stop Chan from doing stupid with a fond smile on his face. At least that’s what Chan thought Changbin was doing back then. Then Changbin was killed and Chan framed for the murder of his lover. Their adventures stopped and Chan was left to run.

But it’s odd now.

Changbin being alive and right in front of him. Maybe they could start their adventures again, going to the same places but now that some things have changed, it’ll be like exploring the world once more. Chan smiles. He likes the sound of that.

But before they can really do any of that, Anne has to be stopped.

Jongho stands behind Yoohyeon while she talks to Changkyun about the proper spell she needs to you. He watches closely the Shifters in the room with narrowed eyes, like he’s waiting for an attack. Chan follows Jongho’s gaze to Heechul who has this look in his eyes as if something isn’t right. Heechul’s brow is furrowed and his lips are set in a straight line. There’s a twitch in his hand like he needs to grab something but when he notices it, he closes his hand into a fist.

Chan’s gut stirs with confusion and a bad feeling.

“I will begin now,” Yoohyeon calls out. “Lord Changbin, if you will.”

Changbin steps forward, grabbing Yoohyeon’s outstretched hand. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. Yoohyeon closes hers.

Chan watches the two of them before he’s shutting his eyes and Changbin is standing in front of him. But it’s not like the Changbin standing inside of Jaebum’s office, this is the Changbin that Chan knows. He smiles at Chan, his gold eyes muted in the vast expanse of Chan’s mind. He reaches out for Chan, their hands connecting and suddenly Chan is at his home with Changbin by his side. Their fingers and intertwined and Changbin’s body is close to his.

“Christopher,” Changbin calls out. “Please be careful going into the house. You may not like what you see.”

Chan hesitates. “But this will explain?”

“This will explain who took me from you. These are my last memories but be wary, squish. The person who did this did it with ill intent. Do not forget that.”

Chan doesn’t say anything and walks into his home. He knows that the Changbin standing in front of him is the Changbin of Changbin’s memories and dear gods this is painful.

Changbin stands in the middle of the kitchen with his hands on his hips. Flour and eggs are everywhere and adding to the mess that was their kitchen are strips of meat. Changbin looks defeated at the fact that he can’t cook which Chan finds endearing. He wants to wipe the flour off Changbin’s cheeks and comb the eggshells out of his hair.

There’s a knock on the door taking Changbin’s attention away from the wrecked kitchen and Chan’s stomach drops. Something isn’t right.

He follows quickly behind past Changbin who opens the door and stares in surprise, both of them do.

“What are you doing here?” Changbin asked, his voice high and alert. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

The person tsked like what Changbin was saying shouldn’t be said. They push their way inside and the first thing Chan sees is red hair and sunset eyes. The woman smiles at Changbin, every aspect of her looking like she hasn’t aged in many years. She pats down her dress and robes before flinging a hand towards Changbin who flies backwards.

“I can be where I want, Changbin,” she said, keeping her smile on her face. “And I want to be here.”

“An-“

“Shh, Changbin. You can’t say my name but you can call me the Sixth. It’s got a nice ring to it.”

The Sixth waves her hand again causing Changbin to get up from his position on the ground and slam into the wall once more. She does it again and again, each time, blood splatters where he slams his head into. The Sixth has a gleeful smile on her face the more she tosses Changbin around without a care in the world.

Chan watches horrified. Changbin, his lover, looks like a ragdoll being thrown around by little girls who don’t know better. There’s blood everywhere and oh gods.

The Sixth finally drops Changbin to the ground, her cruel smile on her lips. “I’m very glad that Channie isn’t here. I would have to kill him as well but I don’t want to hurt my brother.”

“An-“

She wags her finger. “Tsk tsk, Changbinnnie. You know better than to break the rules.”

“Anne please.”

Anne sighs and tosses her red hair onto her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Changbin. I can’t have you here.”

“Anne,” Changbin wheezes. “What is going on?”

She laughs. “You don’t know? Of course you don’t know. You never know anything,” she says. “You only know Chan and your creatures. You’re horrible creatures.” She spats out the word ‘creatures’ with absolute disgust.

Changbin opens his mouth to say something, anything, but the only thing that comes out is a scream. A scream so loud that he’s sure someone nearby can hear everything perfectly. Anne only smiles.

“Channie might join you soon,” she says turning on her heel and walking out of the room. “It depends on how your species takes to Chan killing you.”

“What?” Changbin asks, trying to pull his body together but everything hurts and everything is on fire. He knows he has multiple broken ribs and bones. His ankles are sprained and his head hurts like never before. He wants to clutch at it but he doesn’t. Instead, he tries to appear strong in front of a fleeing Anne and an incoming attack.

Fear permeates the air.

“Changbin,” Chan calls out. “No more. Please no more.”

The house vanishes and Changbin stands in front of Chan, the same injuries from before. He covers his mouth and tries to get the horror out of his mind but it’s all he can see. He’s gotten the answers he wanted but there’s so much more to the story because Changbin didn’t die in the living room. Changbin died in their room, strung up like a drying deer skin. There was too little blood and he knows he wouldn’t be able to take watching Changbin die. He’s the one who found him, what makes his mind think that he can watch as Changbin is tortured and killed in the once place they thought was a safe haven?

“She needs to be stopped,” Changbin says and suddenly Chan is standing in their room when Changbin hanging.

Chan refuses to look up. He can’t look at it again. He can’t.

He can’t.

_ He can’t. _

He squeezes his eyes shut and opens them again. He’s in Jaebum’s office with the alpha standing at the window. He’s looking outside, almost like he’s thinking long and hard about something. Chan turns away and looks to Changbin who is watching him. His gold eyes are filled with worry and Chan’s face feels hot. Tears began to roll down his cheeks because everything is too much.

“Oh Channie,” Changbin says.

“I’m going to kill her,” is what Chan replies. “I’m going to kill her myself.”

Changbin crosses the room and wraps his arms around Chan. He tucks the larger man close to him and closes his eyes, breathing in the scent that is his lover.

Chan’s body thrums with so much energy and the will to kill. He wants blood and vengeance but most of all, he wants to keep Changbin away from her. He needs to protect. He’ll hide him in the mountains, some place far an-

“I’m not going anywhere, Chris,” Changbin mumbles into his ear. “I will remain by your side.”

And Chan knows this. He knows that Changbin isn’t going to leave him to be blinding protected. No. Chan can only guess that his lover is going to learn to fight again. He’s going to learn the art of war and protect them both. Changbin is going to try and who is Chan to stop him?

Chan feels like he’s watching what his children are like when they want to stay with Chan. It’s an odd déjà vu that he’s having, only that it’s with someone else. He wants to laugh because this is ridiculous. Of course he’s going to be surrounded by those who want to protect Chan and themselves. Of course, he’s going to be surrounded by those who truly love him and will do anything in their power to make sure that he’s safe.

Chan sighs and pulls away from Changbin. He touches Changbin’s face and smiles gently. “I only-“

“I know,” Changbin says. “But I want to face her too. She killed me the first time and she’s not going to do it the second. I’m not going to let her. You’re not going to let her. Jaebum is not going to let her. We’re going to be doing this together.”

Chan says nothing, only presses a gentle kiss to Changbin’s forehead. He takes a moment to drink in Changbin’s face before wrapping his arms around the smaller man, and keeping his chin on his shoulder. He gazes rather blankly at the door, waiting for someone to say something.

No one says anything.

“Then we need to make a plan,” Chan says after a few more moments of silence. “One that will either kill her or seal her somewhere. She cannot be allowed to roam around anymore. Not like she is.”

Changkyun snaps his eyes open then, followed by Jongho and Hyungwon. All three of them look to Changbin and growl so loud that it startles Jaebum who was looking out the window. His eyes are wide as they look in between Changbin and Chan before he bows his head.

“There’s no way that you can fake that,” he says. “None.”

“And so you believe us now?” Changbin asks.

Jaebum’s eyes flick to the Chan’s. “I will talk to the council and have the war on the Vampires revoked. We will stop hunting the vamps and begin hunting the Orcs and the Sixth.”

Yoohyeon gasps just then, her mind finally coming back to her. She blinks a couple of times before turning around and rushing towards Jongho. Her body shakes, her grey eyes wide and meeting her father’s. She reaches out and has Jongho walk towards both Changbin and Chan. They wrap themselves around the two Creators, both of which are glad for their presence.

“Daddie,” Yoohyeon mumbles. “I don’t think I was ready for that.”

“You did great Hyeonnie,” Chan says. “I promise.”

“Dad’s right,” Jongho says. “You did wonderfully.”

Yoohyeon cries softly, her arms around her brother’s torso tightening even more. If the tightness from her grip bothers Jongho, he never says anything, only kissing the top of her head.

“I propose,” Changbin says against Chan’s chest, “that we call another meeting of Creators. This time we really need to plan.”

“But of course, Changbinnie,” Changkyun says. “We shall have it at my house again. Just be prepared on being attacked by the others. It’s not all the time that one of your friends comes back from the dead.”

“And maybe it’s a good thing,” Changbin replies. “Now tell me, has your taste in things changed?”

Hyungwon snorts. “You’ve known Changkyun longer than I have so ask that question again and think really hard.”

Changkyun giggles. “You like my taste Hyungwonnie.”

“I despise your taste.”

“You’re a liar.”

“I’m not.”

“Hyungwonnie the liar,” Changkyun singsongs. “Now come on Mister Liar. We have much to do before our next meeting.”

Hyungwon grumbles to himself, rolling his eyes. It’s only when Changkyun pulls the taller down and whispers in his ears that Hyungwon shuts up, his own ears matching the blush that rises to his cheeks.

“Do I want to know?” Changbin asks.

“I don’t think you do, no,” Chan replies. “Because not even I understand.”

Changbin sighs. “What did Changkyun get himself into?”

Chan snorts. “As if I know.”


	7. [ S I X ]

Chan allows himself to be dragged into one of Changkyun’s many music rooms by Changbin. He can only guess what the other wants but Chan doesn’t think that he’s ready to do that yet. Not because he doesn’t know what he’s doing but because, he doesn’t know what he’s doing anymore. It’s been such a long time since he last played the piano or any type of instrument so he’s not sure if he’ll be able to create the beautiful music that he used to.

He’s a little surprised that this music room isn’t too gaudy like his brother has the rest of the house. It’s pretty simple in color, an off white with black couches to the side. There’s a shelf of books and folders of sheet music to one side and the other showing a massive bookcase. In the middle of the room is a piano, the beautiful black, shinning under the lights. Chan’s heart leaps. He misses this.

“Binnie, I don-“

“Hush and sit,” Changbin demands and Chan finds Changbin not caring.

Chan sits and places his hands on the cover of the piano before Changbin slaps them away. He leaves the room for a moment causing Chan to blink in confusion because what on earth is happening here? With Changbin gone, he places his hands on the keys again and smiles. It’s really has been a long time. The keys feel the same, hard and almost velvety to the touch.

He presses a key and a note sings out. He presses another and another one and before he knows it, he’s playing a melody that he hasn’t in a long time.

Arms come into his vision as they wrap themselves over Chan’s shoulders but he doesn’t stop playing, loving the feeling of Changbin being present and the music that flows into the room. Changbin’s breath is hot against his ear and he hums along to the tune of piano and sometimes going off key.

“I knew you could do it,” he says once Chan is done with the second piece. “Yoohyeon told me that she never heard you play the piano before but Jongho says that you have a piano in your home.”

“I never played for them.”

“Why?”

Chan drops his hands from the keys and leans into Changbin’s touch. “I lost my muse and every time I tried to play, it would only remind me of what I lost.”

Changbin squeezes Chan’s neck.

“But who knows. I might start playing it again. I do have my muse back.”

Changbin hums. “Play something else?”

And who is Chan to deny such a request coming from Changbin? Music fills the room again and if Yoohyeon and Jongho stop by with their jaws hanging open and fond smiles on their faces because they have never seen their father smile this much then no one says anything. Not even when Changbin turns around and smiles softly at them or when they leave with their hearts feeling full.

Chan finds himself walking with Changbin outside. The breeze is nice and the day isn’t winter cold yet as they have a couple of months to go. Everything is calming as they take their walks, their hands swinging in the middle. Changbin talks of this life, the one Chan doesn’t know very well. He speaks of pack logistic that Chan doesn’t understand no matter how hard he tries, and of his parents in this life. He waves his free hand around, talking about how dumb some of the pack laws are and how he learned in school things that shouldn’t have to be in school.

“Never go,” Changbin says at the end of his rant. “Never go to school. It’s all bullshit and it looks like a prison. I don’t know how people can willing let their children go there. Like really?”

Chan chuckles. “It’s not all that bad.”

“It’s horrible and human children are mean? Like why would you bully if someone is different from you? Shouldn’t that be celebrated and encouraged?”

“It’s the same.”

“I know, but come on dear squish! I thought they would have change by now! But! No! It’s so dumb.”

Chan does a full belly laugh as he watches Changbin get all worked up. Changbin pouts and smacks Chan’s arm.

“Stop laughing. This is serious!”

Chan tries to stop, but the smile on his face fights with the will to laugh. Changbin rolls his eyes and marches away, forgetting that the two of them are connected by hands.

“Changbin,” Chan calls out but the other doesn’t turn. “Changbin.” He tries again. “Bin?” Still nothing. “Binnie?” And still nothing. “Lew?”

“Please do not call me that vile name,” Changbin hisses, finally turning around and looking at Chan. His gold eyes are narrowed into slits. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into getting a name like ‘Lewis’. What kind of name is that? ‘Lewis’. It sounds like a name in one of those folk novels that I’m Changkyun will get a kick out of.”

Chan chuckles. “You’re the one who chose it.”

“I know and I’m angry that you let me keep it. Do you not have any mercy for me?”

“I thought it was nice. And you do seem lik-“

“I swear to gods, Christopher, if you finish that sentence, I skin you alive.”

Chan laughs.

Changbin sighs when he opens the door to Chan’s room. The other has taken to the room, not allowing anyone but Yoohyeon and Jongho to come in. Was it for a stupid reason? Yes, yes it was. But is still going to keep doing it? Yes, yes he is.

Changbin grumbles under his breath but what Chan isn’t sure. Everything in his mind is so jumbled. Why has he waited so long to feed? It’s not like Changkyun hasn’t been asking or the twins not reminding him. He’s just been forgetting, he guesses.

“You’re stupid, Chan!” Changbin calls out. “Forgetting to eat, again?”

“Leave Bin,” Chan hisses. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“And when have you ever done such a thing? There has not been one moment in the many years that we were together that you hurt me. Don’t be saying such things.”

“Bin,”

Chan warns.

“Chan,” Changbin warns back. “If you don’t come from under the bed, then I’m going to take my measures in my hands.”

Chan tries to scramble out from the under the bed because this can’t be good. This can’t be good at all. He’s barely made it a couple of steps when the scent of blood covers the room. Chan’s senses are heighten from the first smell of iron. It’s a familiar scent, one that has taken over his nightmares when he allowed himself to dream of his lover. But now his lover stand here in front of him, holding out his bleeding arm much like he did when they lived together.

Chan hesitates and the look on Changbin’s face softens. “You’re not going to hurt me,” he says. “I promise.”

Chan doesn’t move from his spot which causes Changbin to sigh. He walks closer with his bleeding wrist, keeping one of his nails in the wound, careful so that it doesn’t close. He shoves his arm into Chan’s face and waits.

“Drink.”

“Bi-“

“Drink.”

Very gently, Chan wraps his hand around Changbin’s wrist. He searches Changbin’s eyes for any hint of regret but the only thing that he sees is the same want to help his lover that was there many years ago. Chan’s eyes flick down to the closing wound before he sinks his teeth in. Changbin shudders at the bite but makes no other move. Instead, he pats Chan’s head like he’s a child.

“You really are dumb,” Changbin mumbles. “So very dumb.”

Chan doesn’t say anything.

“So assassins,” Changbin starts after a day of meetings with Chan’s siblings, “if one of their jobs gets cancelled, like the hit is no more, do they still get a kill fee or no?”

Chan had walked with Changbin into one of the many dining rooms Changkyun had. He sits at the front of the table with Changbin munching a piece of meat. He looks to Chan with those stupid wide eyes as he waits for Chan to answer his question.

“I’m sorry what?”

“Assassins. Hit men. Do they still get paid if they don’t kill anyone?”

“Like a cancellation fee?”

“Yes! Expect it’s not a ‘cancellation fee’ but a ‘kill fee’?”

Chan has to hold in his snort because seriously, what the fuck? It takes a moment of looking away from his lover and back before he begins laughing. There is the Changbin that he knows and loves. The Changbin that would answer the dumb questions and then try to prove said dumb questions.

But two could play at that game.

“I’m not sure,” Chan says. “I guess it would depend on the hit man.”

“Would you?”

Chan thinks about it. “I would.”

“Well aren’t you a stingy shit.”

“Really? Well think about it. I just spent a shit ton of time trying to track down your target and suddenly you don’t want them to be dead? Please. I’m going to make you compensate for wasting my time. It’s only fair, is it not?”

Changbin thinks about it for a couple of moments. “I suppose you’re right.”

“You suppose?”

“Yes.”

Chan pouts and crosses his arms over his chest. He isn’t going to say anything else on the matter because knows that Changbin isn’t going to let up but that doesn’t mean he can’t ask a question of his own. It’s not going to be interesting and a dumb but something that Chan can work with and possibly recreate for his lover.

“Since you’ve gotten your memory back, what’s the one thing that you miss eating?”

Changbin looks surprised at the question before a smirk appears on his face. He leans closer and motions for Chan to come closer as well.

“Are you sure you want to know?”

“Yes?”

“Then why does that sound like a question?”

“Because I don’t know what’s happening?”

Changbin laughs and stares into Chan’s eyes. Gold eyes flick down to plump lips before going back to crystal eyes. “You,” Changbin whispers before getting up from the table and leaving the room.

It takes a moment for the answer to sink in. Chan’s cheeks flare red.

It started with one of Changbin’s dumb questions. Actually, everything always starts with one of Changbin’s dumb questions but this one might take the cake or maybe Chan should have known. Maybe Chan should have banned Changbin from sitting with Jongho and watching those god forsaken cartoons that he does and maybe he wouldn’t be in this situation.

So maybe it doesn’t have to do with one of Changbin’s dumb questions and instead started with Jongho’s dumb shows.

He wants to get out of his situation but it doesn’t seem that Changbin is going to be letting up anytime soon. So just flattens himself against the wall that Changbin has him pinned against. He crosses his arms over his chest and raises a brow, waiting for his lover to make his move. Only Changbin just stares at Chan. He stares like he’s taking in the sight of the Vampire and imprinting into his memory. At least, that’s what the intensity of Changbin’s stare feels like.

His cheeks begin to feel warm the longer that Changbin stares but something tells him that the other isn’t going to do anything. Chan takes matters into his own hands.

Quickly, Chan flips their positions so that Changbin is pushed against the wall and Chan is caging him in. Changbin’s eyes go wide before red colors his cheeks.

Chan smiles.

“Is something wrong?” he asks, leaning forward. “You seemed to be very adamant about something.”

Changbin opens and closes his mouth before his cheeks turn even brighter and he shakes his head. Like earlier in the week, Chan finds Changbin’s eyes wandering down to his lips which causes a wide grin to make way on his face. He should have known. Even way back then, Changbin had a little problem in asking Chan for affection but Chan always seemed to know what he wanted which means, how is this any different.

Chan doesn’t hesitate when he pushes his lips against Changbin’s, the other sucking in a breath before returning the kiss.

The Vampire tries not to feel too emotional as he kisses his lover. It’s been too long since then and everything feels the same. The same plush feeling of Changbin’s lips, the same taste, the same everything and dear gods did he miss kissing Changbin.

Changbin is the one to break their soft kisses, his face still remaining a bright red but unlike a few minutes ago, this time it seems that he knows what he wants and Chan is more than willing to give it to him.

Changbin leads him out of the living room.

Chan and Changbin visit Jaebum’s pack house after a couple of days of planning things. They went for a meeting but before they could truly leave, a small child attacks Chan’s legs and refuses to let him go. He sees dark hair and watery green eyes.

“We didn’t look,” the child says. “You made us promise and we didn’t look.”

Chan is confused until the memory of the fire comes to mind. He’s able to take the little boy off his legs and crouch down to his level. After a couple of weeks, Chan is finally able to get a good look at the boy, noting his angular face and his small eyes that look smaller than they should be.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” Chan asks.

“Mingi,” comes the reply.

“And your friend?”

“Brother. Yunnie is my brother.”

Chan hums. “And where is Yunnie?”

“Inside,” Mingi says in a rush. “I saw you and I wanted to come and get you. Some people have been calling you bad names and tells us that you’re a monster and that we shouldn’t listen to you but you helped me and saved me and Yunnie.”

Chan smiles gently.

“I like you, Mister Chan,” Mingi says sheepishly. “You’re kinder than some of the children here. Would you like to be my friend?”

Chan chuckles. “I would love to be your friend.” He pokes Mingi’s nose. “And whenever you feel alone, you call me or come to me and I’ll always be there, yeah?”

“Yes!” Mingi’s smile is blinding and Chan feels his heart melt.

He looks up to Changbin who is staring at the two of them with a look in his eyes that Chan can’t quite pick out. He notices Chan staring at him and smiles. “Come on Mingi,” Changbin says quietly. “We have to find Yunho before he gets himself in trouble. I heard there are pirates coming.”

Mingi gasps and whirls around. “But Binnie hyung! Yunho doesn’t know where to hide. We have to find Yunnie!”

Mingi runs inside of the house pulling Changbin along with him, Chan laughing as he follows the two.

If anyone walked into Mingi and Yunho’s room that afternoon finding both the Creator of the Vampires and the Creator of the Shifters pretending to be monsters for a couple of children, then no one said anything and allowed the children to be children and the Creators to do what they do best.

Create.


	8. [ S E V E N ]

Chan sighs when he sinks his teeth into Changbin’s neck. He tastes sweet, almost like a caramel apple which might be the right thing as Chan has been wanting caramel for a little while now. However with how hectic everything has been, he hasn’t gotten the chance to actually look for the sweet. 

The more Chan drinks, the more that Chan can physically feel his body getting hotter and his mind becoming clearer with each sip. It feels like he’s on cloud nine and getting the best possible present that he can get. 

Changbin is pliant in his arms, the other man drawing lazy circles on Chan’s chest. The lazy circles become written words ranging from “You’re an idiot” to “I’m in love with you” and finally “Do pink clouds taste like cotton candy?” It’s most comforting to the both of them but Chan is trying really hard not to snort. 

Releasing Changbin from his teeth, Chan laughs. “Did you really just ask that?” 

“Okay, listen, that’s a very important question. Do pink clouds taste like cotton candy?” Changbin asks not moving from his spot against Chan’s chest. 

“They’re clouds, Binnie. I don’t think they’re going to taste like that.” 

Changbin finally pulls away and stares at Chan. “You don’t know that. Have you tasted a cloud?” 

“Binnie.” 

“But you haven’t tasted a cloud, so hush.” 

Chan can only chuckle as he pulls Changbin closer to him. He eyes, the still oozing bite wounds. Leaning forward, he laps at the wounds, watching in mild amusement as they close. Changbin makes a strangled noise when Chan licks a stripe on the side of his neck. The chuckle that leaves his mouth is a little filthy causing Changbin to whack him against his arm. 

“Seriously?” Changbin yelps.

“Yes.” 

With a roll of his eyes, Changbin tries to pull away from Chan only to be sucked into the Vampire’s embrace. Chan presses gentle kisses to Changbin’s neck and to his jaw line, just relishing the feeling of having his lover in his arms. With the chaos of trying to plan to seal his younger sister, they hadn’t an intimate moment like his in a couple of days, most of their moments always being cut short by some kind of meeting or something else coming up. 

This is nice. 

But Chan should have guessed that it wasn’t going to last very long. 

Their door is thrown open and two tiny bodies throw themselves at the bed with loud giggles. A pair of small green eyes catch Chan’s before they disappear into tiny crescents. 

“Mingi,” Chan laughs, “what are you doing?” 

“Hiding!” Mingi shouts. “‘m hiding from Jongho hyung because he says that he’s going to eat me and then maybe tickle me and then maybe… well I don’t know. I got Yunnie we thought to come in here because you can protect us from Jongho hyung because I don’t want to be eaten.” 

Chan blinks a couple of times trying to make sense of the words coming out of Mingi’s mouth. He kind of does and just in time too. Loud stomps come from outside of the room. 

“Mingi,” Jongho sing songs. “Where are you? Yunho?” 

Mingi giggles while Yunho squeaks, burying himself into Changbin’s arms. Changbin, wanting to play along, throws the blanket over his torso and latches onto Chan, shielding Mingi from the giant monster that is about to cross into the room. 

Jongho pokes his head through the door, raising a brow when he sees both Chan and Changbin smiling at him. 

“What did you do?” Jongho questions when he takes a step into the room. Crossing his arms over his chest, he looks in between the two of them. “You did something.” 

Mingi squirms on Chan’s lap causing Jongho to snap his eyes down. A smile appears on his face while Changbin shakes his head. Chan covers his mouth with his hand, hiding his laugh and shaking his head. 

"Nothing," he says. "We did nothing." 

Jongho snorts. "You did something. The room smells like blood and you have that look in your eyes like you've something." He takes a couple of steps towards the bed, his fangs on display while he smiles. 

"What look in my eyes?" 

"Your eyes are shining which means, you've either eaten or you're hiding something," the younger Vampire says. "And if you're not hiding something," Mingi and Yunho giggle. "Then that means you have eaten." 

Chan turns to Changbin, his eyes wide. "My eyes are shining?" 

Changbin looks surprised at the question and looks deep into Chan's eyes. Heat rises to Chan's cheeks the more that Changbin looks forcing (yes, forcing) Jongho to clear his throat and hold up his hand in a countdown. 

Five. 

Four. 

"But if you had your fill of blood, Dad, then doesn't that make you the monster?" Jongho snickers. 

Three. 

Two. 

Mingi gasps under the covers. "Mister Chan is the monster?" he says, his voice not knowing the correct octaves. "Yunnie, we have to run! They're going to eat us!" 

One. 

Jongho flops on the bed, his body squishing the two young wolf Shifters under him. They squeal with laughter as the Vampire squirms, Chan and Changbin trying to avoid the failing older child. The blanket comes off Yunho and Mingi, both of them looking at Jongho with wide eyes and peals of laughter from their lips when he wiggles his fingers. 

"I'm going to eat you," he says. 

Yunho screams and tries to get away, only to be held down by Jongho. Mingi stares before yelling at the older man to let his brother go. Jongho only smiles and attacks the two with tickles to their sides and their small torso. Loud peal of laughter fills the room as the two seven year old continue to get "attacked" by the "monster" following them. 

"You look fond," Changbin says. "Very fond." 

Chan glances at his lover, noting the smile on his face. He hums. "Yoohyeon and Jongho were like this when they were their age. All they wanted was to play and we made up so many games. I wish you have been there to see it." 

"And that's all we can do is wish," Changbin says, watching as Jongho finally relents. "But Channie, I have a question." 

"About?"

"Well you see. The pack hou-" 

There's a loud thud in the air causing Chan and Jongho to wince at the sheer intensity of the sound. Everything is silent for a long moment before people begin yelling. Chan looks to Changbin whose expression turned from fond to distressed in a matter of seconds. The sound of the thud and the screaming that followed can only mean one thing. 

It's begun. 

Quickly, Chan stands from the bed, rushing to the window. Wolves are quickly shifting and launching into the trees while some are being pushed out. It been mere seconds since everything started and there's already chaos. Orders are being thrown around, most of which are to get the families out of the side houses and into the tunnels. 

"Jongho, take the kids out of here and into the tunnels," Chan says whirling around and looking at his child. "Protect them." 

"I know."

Yunho and Mingi look at Chan with the same wide scared eyes from the first time they met. He smiles at them and crouches down. "You both protect Jongho too, okay?" 

Yunho nods and grabs Mingi's hand. Mingi tries to smile at him but it ends up being a wince. "You're going?" 

Chan nods. "I have to fight the real monsters, now."

"Are you coming back?" 

"Always." 

Without thinking, he presses a gentle kiss to Mingi's forehead before moving to Yunho's. He smiles at the both of them just as another loud thud rocks the house. Chan presses a quick kiss to Jongho's cheek and pushes them out. 

"Be safe," he says before rushing down the opposite side of the hallway. He doesn't hear Changbin's steps which are good because of the plan; they have to stick to the plan in order for this to work correctly. 

His mission is to keep more Orcs from coming in. He’ll be with Changbin and Hyungwon, helping as they set up a barrier and force anyway anyone else that tries to come in. He’s glad that they decided to all stay at pack house from one of their meetings yesterday as it’s much easier to be protecting this pack house when they’re actually in it. 

Chan rushes down the stairs to where Changkyun and Hyungwon are waiting for him. Changkyun’s face is morphed into so much anger that Chan isn’t sure if he really wants to step where his brother is. But he continues on because they really need to do this. Hyungwon is the first one to spot smiling, his smile tight lipped. They don’t wait for Chan to actually catch up with them before taking off in a sprint. 

He follows silently, pushing quiet prayers to the gods that they all get out of this alive. They all need to be alive after this. 

Stepping outside is like a war zone. Flashes of bright lights are everywhere and the smell of blood is almost too much for Chan to stand. Carcasses of dead wolves look like they’ve been flung around, some wolves lying in heaps under the tree line. Chan has to look away when he stumbles across ripped out organs under one of the trees, crimson liquid staining the grass a dark red. 

“Chan…” Changkyun starts. 

“Just keep going,” Chan says under his breath. “There’s nothing we can do now.” 

“Hyungwon, find out how many,” Chan asks and Hyungwon is gone in the blink of an eye. 

Chan and Changkyun continue on with their rushing, passing different fights, watching some of the pack members gurgle their own blood, but they never see the Orcs. It’s not until they’re almost to where they need to be when they see their first monster that Chan has to do a double take. 

The first thing Chan notes his how pale they are. They look like canisters of floating milk when they walk. Their hair is the same color as their skin, making them look almost like ghosts if it wasn’t for the horns on the side of their heads, the blood on the fingers and around their mouths, and the glowing red eyes. They’re massive in size, almost standing a little taller than the wolves but not quite but their lack of size is made up by the sheer amount of power they posses. 

“Hide in the shadows,” Chan says quietly. “We don’t want them to see us.” 

Changkyun hides. 

They wait to begin moving again when the Crc is a little passed them and they don’t look back. 

Hyungwon meets them at the edge of the territory, his eyes blazing with life. There’s blood on his fingertips but he says nothing of how he got it there. Instead he looks to Changkyun and nods his head. 

“Everything is ready,” he says, his voice low. “There are seventy Crcs within the territory but if Jaebum’s pack can take of care them like they planned, then everything should go smoothly.” 

“Let’s begin,” Chan says. 

He steps away and lets Changkyun and Hyungwon do their thing. 

Watching as both Daemons close their eyes and being to mumble under their breaths, Chan wonders if he could reach his magic again. He was the one who decided not to give his Vampires the use of magic in fear of the power in fear that his creations would do something with it he wouldn’t approve. He didn’t trust his Vampires not to do something stupid with it. And maybe that was a mistake or maybe not. He’s not sure. 

Orbs of white light fly from Changkyun’s hands and into the air circling around the three of them before going off higher. Light begins to pour out from the orbs and descends down forming a barrier to keep everything in. It doesn’t take very long for everything to be protected and secure. 

Chan smiles to himself as Changkyun and his creation lean against one of the trees. They take a couple of breaths. 

“We did good,” Changkyun says. 

A twig snaps and they look to the side. Heechul comes out of the trees, blood staining his fingers. His eyes are a bright orange as he takes in the sight of Chan and Changkyun, a smile plastering itself on his face. There’s something different about Heechul as he stares at Chan, something far more sinister than he likes. 

“Heechul?” Chan questions. “Is everything alright? I thought we were supposed to be with Jaebum and Youngjae.” 

Heechul laughs, throwing his head back like Chan’s just told the world’s greatest joke. “I should be here!” he shouts. “Just like she ordered me too. Says that she wants you to watch this time and here is the perfect spot for you to do so.” 

“What are you talking about?” Chan questions causing Heechul to shake his head, his maniacal smile growing larger and larger. 

“You’ll see,” he says brightly. “You’ll see. Just stay here for now! Yes, yes, stay!”

Hyungwon stands on wobbly legs, his arms out, and ready to attack. Chan raises a brow. This isn’t the Heechul that they know. This is someone else. Something else. 

“Chul do his work properly,” Heechul begins to mumble under his breath. His voice sounds broken, like he’s on the verge of crying or something similar. “Chul listen to Lady Anne. Chul be a good boy and become an Orc, just like Lady Anne promised. Orc! Orc! Orc!” 

Chan’s entire being stills. 

Anne?

“Changkyun,” Chan calls out.

“I know,” Changkyun mumbles. “Hyungwon, please.” 

Hyungwon begins to mumble under his breath, but he’s not quick enough for Heechul. The wolf that used to be their friend lashes out, a wave of power slamming into Hyungwon’s body. He’s thrown back into a tree, crumbling to the ground. 

“No! No!” Heechul says. “No power Hyungwonnie. Nope!” 

“Heechul!” Changkyun shouts. 

“No Heechul!” the creature shouts. “Heechul die! Painful death! Lady Anne wanted to be so good to him but Heechul said no and no one says no to Lady Anne.” The creature looks almost mournful talking about Heechul but the emotion is gone just as fast as it came. 

By no means is Chan stupid but this situation makes him feel like he is. How could they have been so blind? How could have he been so blind to see that Heechul wasn’t Heechul? And the answer was there that day when Changbin relieved himself to the room. No one’s eyes would flash orange unless you came from Anne. Anne’s creatures flashed orange. 

But if Anne knew about the plan, then what is she after that’s here now?

Anger flares through Chan’s body at the thought of Heechul dying when he was trying to protect everyone. If only they could have figured it out beforehand, then maybe, just maybe they might have been able to take his sister by surprise. 

Chan’s anger is what causes him to take one step forward and attack the Anne’s creature. In a flurry of snarls and punches, the two of them dance around each other almost like they’re dancing in a waltz. The creature hisses at Chan who in turn hisses back, his lip curling over. This creature is a child compared to Chan and much like his fight with Jaebum; it’s going to end as soon as it starts. 

The creature attacks using his nails to starch while Chan dodges. He uses his fists to slam into the creature’s face causing it to take a couple of steps back. Its lip wobbles before the orange flares brighter than before. 

“Anne said nothing about killing Chan,” it says. “Only that Chan has to watch Binbin’s death. I can kill Chan!” 

What?

The creature launches itself when Chan is stuck in his head questioning what is happening. He blinks a couple of times before yelping when he feels the creature sinks its teeth into Chan’s shoulder. As best as he can, he tries to force the creature off him, but there’s no luck. Second pass and he feels his energy draining faster than before. He doesn’t understand but he’s not really thinking of that. He’s thinking of Changbin and what Changbin has to do with any of this. 

Something whacks against the creature’s head, its teeth ripping Chan’s shoulder open causing him to scream out in pain. He turns around and tries not to glare at Changkyun who only smiles at Chan, a piece of wood in his hands. They both look the creature whose eyes are clamped shut and the smell of blood permeating the air. He’s not dead and only unconscious. If they leave now, then they won’t have to deal with this strange creature of Anne’s. 

But the creature's words still roam around Chan’s head. He can’t seem to make sense of them. He can feel his mind running in circles as he just tries to think about what it was saying. 

“It was going to kill you,” he says. “What are you thinking about?”

“Did you hear what it said?” Chan asks. “It said something about Changbin being killed.”

“It must have been lying.” 

Chan didn’t believe that for a second. Something about the way the creature continued to talk about killing Changbin, there’s no way that it’s a lie. “There’s no way to know other than to go and find him.” 

“Chan,” Changkyun trails off. “There’s a reason why Jaebum didn’t want you fighting with Changbin. Both of you are distractions to each other. Both of you will end up killed if you’re fighting side by side.” 

Chan sighs and eyes the crumpled figure of the creature. “But what did it mean?”

Changkyun shrugs. “We can ask it.” 

“No. We’ll be here longer than we should, waiting for it to wake.” 

Hyungwon groans from where he’s trying to get up. Changkyun saunters over to his Daemon and presses his lips against the others, like he’s helping Hyungwon heal from his collision with the tree and maybe that’s really what it was. Hyungwon’s eyes are bleary as they stare at Chan, like he’s trying to give information to him but he does not understand. 

Chan looks away, letting his mind think of why Anne would want Changbin dead. Why did she want him dead in the first place?

Well according the memory that Yoohyeon showed Chan, it’s because…

Oh. 

His stomach drops as realization sets in. The creature is correct in saying that Anne wanted to kill Changbin. Of course the creature was correct. 

“Oh,” Chan says out loud. “This entire thing has been about Changbin. She still wants to kill him because she believes that he’s taken everything from her. She wants to kill Changbin because he created the Shifters. She killed Changbin because he created the Shifters.” 

“She still wants power,” Changkyun continues. “And what’s the best way to get power?” 

By taking out the weakest link. 

Changbin. 

Fuck. 

Chan doesn’t know where to begin in looking to Changbin as he knows that the other Creator is supposed to be helping almost everywhere. The plan was to have him where he was needed as no one knew for sure what was going to be happening. Hyungwon and Changkyun had gone ahead, looking for any sign of Changbin and if they found him, they would somehow signal Chan to let him know.

He passes a couple of fights, some of the Orcs finding and attacking Chan, only for him to evade the attacks and continue on. He couldn’t stop and attack in fear of something happening to Changbin. Dear gods, please let nothing happen to Changbin. He’s not sure what’s going to happen if something does happen to him.

Chan stops running after a couple of minutes, something in the back of his mind telling him to head to where everything always seems to begin for the two of them. He backtracks a little before sprinting full speed once more. The trees grow thinner and the animals become far fewer in between. The chill in the air feels colder than before but Chan keeps going.

He’s not sure what to expect when he comes face to face with the field but it’s certainly not a redheaded woman, looking at him with such love in her eyes. Chan stops and takes a couple of steps back, his heart pounding in his chest.

“Anne,” he says and she smiles.

It’s been a really long time since he’s last seen her. The first thought is that she looks the same. Her hair is still the brightest red that he’s seen and her sunset eyes are still shining. She smiles sweetly at Chan like she’s been waiting a long time for him to make his way to the field. Anne pats down her black dress, the ruffles at the end curling with her movement.

“Hello Channie,” she says. “It’s been a while.”

Chan doesn’t know what to say to the face of his sister. There are too many emotions that are flowing through his mind, most of which is relief that’s she’s alright. He wants to run up to her and wrap his arms around her, but his feet stay put and his mind is far from being there.

“I never thought…” he trails off and Anne continues to smile her polite smile.

To him, she looks beautiful much like Yoohyeon, Nana, and Minji. She looks like she belong with them in Changkyun’s gaudy meeting room, laughing and chatting about the wonderful dumb things their creations have gotten into.

But this Anne, the Creator of the Orcs.

The one who caused the War of Magic and the one who helped kill Changbin.

She couldn’t sit at that table no matter how much Chan wanted her too or even how much she wanted to. It’s sad but that’s just the way it is and there’s no exceptions.

Chan’s heart breaks.

“Anne.” He says causing the polite smile to drop from her lips. She sneers, her lip curling into an ugly snarl.

“Don’t say it,” she says. “Don’t fucking say it.”

“Anne,” Chan says again. “You nee-“

“I’m not going anywhere!” she shouts. “I’m going to stay here and watch Changbin burn this time. He took what was rightfully mine!”

Chan shakes his head, not knowing how to make his younger sister understand. He gets it though. He really does understand how pushed the side she felt, how she wanted attention from their mother, and how left alone she was. He sees this now, and _ gods _, he wishes that he saw it earlier and maybe none of this would happen but once again, Fate has a shitty way of doing things.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m so very sorry.”

Anne scoffs. “You’re sorry? For what? Not actually listening to me? Not being there for when I needed it? Please. That’s all in the past and I’m a big girl now. I know how to take care of myself and I know what I need to do. Mom always taught us to take down our problems and here I am trying to take down mine and I can’t. I’ve been trying for _ years _ but I can’t. Stupid fucker just won’t _ die _.”

What?

Anne sees the look on Chan’s face and smirks, grabbing one of the flowers next to her. She plays with the bud for a moment before plucking it from the stem.

“He’s been alive more times than I can count,” she says. “But you were never there. Always running away when he needed you the most. It’s honestly disgusting how this works and how the Fates have the soulmate system up and running but who cares. I just want the fucker gone so I can rest in peace and worry about my Orcs.”

Soulmate? What? Changbin’s been alive more than once? Reincarnated more than once?

Anne crushes the flower in her hands. “Now let me kill him again. I think I understand how to kill an immortal this time. I think it’s perfect.”

Chan barely hears her over the rushing in his ears. The emotions that he had when he realized that Anne was standing right in front of him was overturned by the possibility that Changbin had been alive for more than this lifetime.

But he never found him.

Well really, Chan never really searched to see if Changbin was reincarnated. He just assumed that the other was going to be because the Fates think they’re funny like that. But if he was, then why didn’t he meet him all those times that he was thinking about him? Why didn’t they meet earlier than now?

Chan laughs.

This is the Fates he’s thinking about. Of course, they’re not going to make things easy on him. If they wanted them to meet, then they would have met when the Fates allowed them too.

Chan eyes his sister. “I’m going to stop you,” he says. “And this time I’m going to protect him.”

Anne scoffs. “Please. You could never beat me when we were first learning to fight. What makes you think that you can _ actually _ fight me? Besides, the plan is already in action. All Changbin needs to do is come and we’ll be golden.”

“I’ve grown,” is all Chan says before he sprints into the field and begins his attack.

Anne is light on her feet as she dodges every attack coming her way. She balances herself rather steadily on her feet as she lands a couple of blows to Chan’s side. He feels his insides being twisted around but there’s not much that he can do about it.

She mumbles under her breath a spell that Chan has forgotten all about. He eyes the ground when she’s done and the loudest rumble he’s heard in a long time passes through. A pillar of earth shoots up from the ground, almost piercing Chan’s side. He’s able to somehow avoid being impaled.

“You’ve forgotten your magic,” Anne accuses. “You’ve forgotten who you are.”

_ She’s right _ , he thinks to himself. _ I have forgotten who I am. _

Chan knows no magic, no way to defend himself from her oncoming magical attacks. All he has are his fangs and his hands and while it might not be enough in the long run, it should be enough now. He’s still Hecate’s child as much as she is.

When a pillar of earth comes in front of him, Chan wastes no time in slamming his palm through the risen dirt. It takes a couple of tries and different levels of strength to finally get through the pillar, only to have Anne snickering at the side with her hand over her mouth.

“Is that all really what you can do?” she asks. “How are you supposed to protect your beloved if you can barely protect yourself?”

The movement of the dirt is too fast for Chan to fully understand what happens next. One moment, he’s standing and getting ready to fight again and the next moment, there’s a searing pain in his side with all of his breath leaving him. He breathes through his mouth a couple of times but the sound coming out sounds like wheezing and heavy breathing. A noise that he shouldn’t be making.

“You’re so dumb, Channie,” Anne mocks. “And very forgetful. Is your age finally catching up to you?”

Chan slams a fist at the piece of earth impaling his side. He grits his teeth because that’s a lot of pain that he can’t deal with right now. He tries to straighten up but there’s black bubbling in the corner of his eyes and he can do this. He can still fight against Anne and protect those he loves. He’s not a child of Hecate and a Creator for nothing.

He breathes through his mouth before attacking again. He leaps through the air and allows his body to attack. He kicks at his sister’s head only to be blocked once more while she looks amused at all of this. It dawn on Chan just then, that this is no longer his sister that used to want to roam around the wilderness with him and try to find the other goddesses to talk to. This is the same woman who would snicker at Chan when he threw himself into a gay panic thanks to Changbin. No, this woman is someone else, someone who hates what she’s become and what she has.

He feels his body slam against a tree and everything hurts. His side is screaming at him to stop moving and his back might be broken. He can feel a couple of ribs poking something but he has to do this.

“Just stop moving Chan,” Anne says with a roll of her eyes. “I know that you’re in a lot of pain. Changbin was only reincarnated because he’s human and has always been human, you are not and never will be human, Channie. If you die here, then you will _ die _ here. I don’t think Nana would want that. Nope! Nana would want her beloved brother to stay alive.”

Something catches Chan’s eye. He tries not to openly look at it but he can tell that it’s Hyungwon and Changkyun waving at him. There’s a look in Changkyun’s eye that Chan has never seen before as he crouching in his hiding spot. From where Chan is propped up against a tree, he can see that Hyungwon is holding Changkyun back which causes a smile to be on Chan’s face. Of course.

Hyungwon nods his head twice before raising his free hand and motioning to the barrier. Chan is confused just for a few moments before it dawns on him.

Anne’s seal is complete.

Changkyun holds up two fingers.

Two minutes.

He can do this.

Chan hisses and forces his body to listen to him and not the pain. He can do this, he can last a couple more minutes of this, this isn’t an issue for him. He just needs to keep Anne’s attention on him and all will be good.

His body feels like lead when he finally stands. He looks to Anne who has a brow raised and can tell that there is a sigh on her lips. He pushes off the tree just as she launches another elemental attack. Somehow, someway, he’s able to dodge the damn earth pillar and charges straight towards her. She looks surprised because the thing that he knows is that she’s flying into the trees with a loud _ oomph _.

Anne chuckles. “I’m surprised,” she says. “You actually managed to land a hit on me like that. Who would have thought.”

Chan doesn’t say anything. He can’t say anything; his mouth doesn’t want to move. Instead, he stands in the middle of the field waiting for Anne to make her appearance and when she finally does, he’s ready.

Her dress is torn in a couple of places that she dusts off. Anne looks almost annoyed with the whole events of this couple of seconds before waving her hand around without a care in the world. The roots of the trees surrounding Chan shoot up from the ground and that’s a lot of trees that Chan doesn’t think he can do anything about.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he sees Hyungwon standing without Changkyun holding up a fist. Everything is complete.

He tries to dodge them as they come down but it’s only a matter of seconds before one of them pierces his body. He feels one going into his shoulder and other one in his leg, where they hold him into place. His entire body starts to shut down because wow this hurts. This really does hurt. How can people constantly get up and attack over and over again?

Chan already knows the answer. He’s proven the answer when he got up from attacking Anne’s creature and again when he continually got up from Anne’s beating. Maybe he can sympathize with those shows that Jongho watches sometimes. The things that you do for your loved ones.

But now Chan is stuck with a tree root in his shoulder and his leg. No matter how much he actually wants to move, he knows that he won’t be able too. He’s done and he’s pissed.

Anne knows this too if the smile on her face is any indication. There’s that damn gleam in her eyes that screams to Chan that she’s enjoying this. She’s enjoying this way too much.

“I would have thought,” she says walking close to Chan, “that maybe you would have been able to beat me after all these years but I was wrong. You’ve forgotten who you are, lost the person you care about more than anything in the world, and is hopelessly pierced by tree roots.” Chan tries to move. “But then, these are tree roots, holding you down. Maybe you are a lot stronger than you were before.”

Chan releases a breath. “Or maybe you’re just getting weak,” he manages to whisper. “What have you been doing this entire time?”

“Avoiding you.”

“Just me?”

Anne raises a brow.

“Isn’t there anything that you learned from your beloved siblings, Anne?”

“Yeah, Anne,” Changkyun’s voice comes through. “Isn’t there anything that you would have learned about us?”

“I thought you would have remembered that,” Changbin says somewhere within the forest.

“Someone is not too far behind,” Yoohyeon says.

“Even us younger ones know that,” Jongho nearly growls out. “There will always be someone standing nearby watching a Creator or have you been alone this entire time that you forgot? Sorry Auntie Anne. It looks like there is more than you bargained for here.”

Anne whirls around, anger evident on her face as she tries to pinpoint from where the voices are coming from.

“Oh, Chan’s children,” Anne says fixing her eyes on one of point of the forest. “I can’t believe that you’re actually watching all of this.”

Yoohyeon snorts. “You don’t think that we would be watching our father?”

Anne shifts her weight. “Well yes, I thought that you would be watching, but making your presence known to me? That I didn’t think of, little oracle.”

Chan’s ears begin to pick up a soft thud and something being dragged. He looks towards the point in which Anne is looking at and sees white. Standing a good three feet taller than Anne is a giant red stained wolf. His teeth are bared, his yellow eyes narrowed into slits. Just by the smell alone, Chan smell different open wounds on the wolf’s body, some of them deep, and others shallow.

Changbin growls.

“Perfect!” Anne yells, seemingly forgetting about the others surrounding her. “You’re here! Now Chan can watch you die instead of just finding you. How perfect this all is.”

Changbin snaps his teeth.

Anne doesn’t hesitate to begin her attacks while the wolf snarls and begins his defense. Chan can only watch in horror as Changbin snaps his teeth, barely missing Anne’s shoulder. She smiles gleefully, summoning more tree roots and sending them to impale Changbin but unlike Chan, he’s able to dodge everything quiet beautifully.

Changbin is able to get close to Anne and sink his teeth in Anne’s shoulder, his younger sister screaming out, all forms of smiles slipping off her face. Her eyes turn a bright orange and Chan can tell that she’s pissed. Nothing is going her way and she hates it. She hates it so much.

Chan fights the tree roots once more. He’s has to help. He needs to help.

Changbin throws her near where Chan is struggling to get out of the trees. She stands but suddenly the air around her turns the most vile he’s ever experienced. The air isn’t like Changkyun’s malevolence that he produces to intimidated his opponents. No. This is something far more sinister in nature. 

Anne means to kill.

She stalks forward just as one of the roots finally cracks from Chan struggling too much. If Anne hears anything, she doesn’t look his way. Instead, her orange gaze is fixed upon Changbin bloody form.

“I hate you,” she says. “Just die already!”

The next few moments, everything happens too fast.

Chan’s last root finally crumbles to the ground, Changbin shifts into his human form to avoid one of the tree branches aiming for his head, and a bright light to indicate that the seal around Anne has finally taken place. She screams at the top of her lungs when she realizes that she can’t move before giggling and snickering.

For a long second he finds himself being rejoiceful that they had actually done what they set out to do. But Anne is beginning to cackle as her gaze is fixated on one point.

“Again!” she shouts. “Again I have completed what I had tasked myself.” She giggles. “I’m such a wonderful person and I’m so proud of myself.”

Something cold settles in Chan’s stomach. He dares to look where she’s looking because he doesn’t know if he’s going to like what he sees. And he doesn’t. He doesn’t at all. A long winded gasp passes through his lips as he stares at the sight. He needs to get there.

He needs to move.

Changbin.

Move.

Changbin.

Chan moves quickly. He passes a cackling Anne who continues to mutter to herself that she did what she wanted. Chan’s mind begins to shut down, because, no, no, _ no, _this wasn’t supposed to happen.

The closer Chan gets, the more he can hear the heavy drops of blood hitting the ground and strangled gasping. Faint trickles of blood fall from Changbin’s lips as he tries to put on a smile for Chan. Chan shakes his head, gripping onto one of the roots that is impaling Changbin.

He blinks a couple of times, willing the tears not fall because this doesn’t look too good. None of this looks to go and oh dear gods. Please let this be some kind of nightmare.

“Hi,” Changbin mumbles out.

Chan shakes his head. “Don’t you dare.”

“How’s it going?”

“Changbin shut up.”

“I’m wondering if this is what lollipops feel like. I’ve been wondering that for a little while now.”

“Shut up.”

“Do you think this is what they feel like?”

“It’s a piece of candy, Changbin. Now shush.”

“I want to be a piece of candy.”

“You can be mine. Now please.”

Changbin smiles and a shaky hand reaching for Chan’s cheek. Chan knows better than to try and take out of the root that have his lover attached to the tree. No matter how much he wants to believe that Changbin is going to make this out alive, he knows deep down that he’s not. Not after being struck by tree roots both in the stomach and close to the heart. If Chan takes out those roots now, he might not get the chance to say goodbye this time.

“Oh,” Changbin says when Chan intertwines their fingers together. “I never got to ask you.”

Chan holds nods, his tears finally falling. “Ask me what?”

“About Mingi and Yunho. They need a home. And the-“

“Yes.”

Changbin laughs or really tries to. “I knew you were going to say that. Take of care of them, yeah?”

Chan looks down, a sob pushing past his lips. “Always.”

“Good. Hey Channie,” Changbin calls out, his voice fading out. “I never got my morning kiss.”

“How silly of me,” Chan laughs. He looks up to see Changbin’s eyes on his eyes.

Even now, in the face of death, they’re filled with nothing but warmth and love. These pair of gold eyes will always be his favorite. Even years down years down the road when the world finally comes to an end, these gold eyes with fading light will always be his favorite.

Chan surges forwards and presses a gentle kiss onto Changbin’s lips.

“Good morning love,” Chan says.

Changbin never answers and Chan screams. 


	9. [ E P I L O G U E ]

Yoohyeon can only smile when she meets Gahyeon’s eyes. There’s a bright blush on her cheeks but she clears her throat and tries to make everything seem like it’s normal. She hears her father snort into his hands and watches as Jongho tries to hold in his laughter. 

“You know,” Jongho says with a teasing smirk on his lips when they leave the fae entrance to Anne's Wood. “That sometimes to let a girl know that you like them, you have to talk to them first.” 

Yoohyeon throws a dirty glare towards her brother, baring her fangs with a low hiss that sounds across the trees. “Like you’re any better,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “You should properly tell Sannie and Woo and about those crushes of yours.”

This time it’s Jongho who flashes his fangs but Yoohyeon doesn't care. She looks at him up and down before sauntering ahead of him, smoothing out the fake wrinkles of her mini skirt. Jongho splutters behind her before rushing to meet and tackle her to the ground. With a loud yelp, Yoohyeon pushes at her brother, trying to get her monsterous twin off. 

Silently, she can hear her father counting to five before plucking Jongho off her. There's amusement laced with sadness in his eyes. “You would think that spending almost a millennium together you would know how to act,” he says with mock disappointment in his voice causing Yoohyeon to mentally sigh. “But no, you still act like children.” 

Yoohyeon’s stormy glare is directed to her father who smiles back like he’s done nothing wrong. 

He waits a few seconds before letting Jongho go and allowing Yoohyeon to stand up. Moments later, Jongho is wrapping his arm around her shoulder and squeezing her neck and tickling her sides. She hears Chan sigh before continuing on before them. 

"How dare you," he says with mock anger. "When you ask out Gahyeon, then I'll talk to San and Wooyoung." 

Yoohyeon snorts. "As if." 

"Do you want to bet?" 

"Fuck no."

The sounds of her father halt suddenly causing the two of them to look up and cease their play fighting. She sees Chan looking at a couple of nightblossoms on the side of the road. He's smiling sadly causing Yoohyeon's heart to break at the sight. She hates this. She hates watching her father who hides his pain break down during moments like this. She wants to protect him as much as he's protected her. 

Yoohyeon and Jongho only knew Changbin from the short couple of months that they spent with him but it was like magic for their father. His smiles were brighter and his laughter was louder. He almost seemed like a different man when he was around Changbin that he almost looked like he was glowing. She doesn't know how many times she thought of the four of them as a family.

She can't imagine the pain of losing a lover, not once but twice to the same vile woman. (Yoohyeon sneers at the thought of Anne.)

"Do you think he'll ever be like he was?" Jongho asks quietly. 

Yoohyeon shakes her head. "I don't know," is her answer. 

She walks ahead of Jongho, each step closer cracking her heart more. There are no tears in his eyes but Yoohyeon believes that if they could cry, he would be crying. 

"Daddie?" she calls quietly, almost like she didn't want to disturb him.

He looks to her, a quiet wonder flashing through his eyes. She tries to give him a happy smile but she's not sure if her happiness radiates through it. Gently, she grabs Chan's arm and pulls him away from the flower, looping her arm with his. 

"Sorry," he mumbles. 

"You're okay," Jongho says walking beside the two of them. "You're allowed to mourn." 

"But a hundred years?" 

"Time is different for us," Yoohyeon says, tapping her fingers against his arm. "And our mourning periods are different." 

The oldest vampire hums and says no more. 

The rest of the walk to the Daemon House is silent. From the corner of her eyes, she can see Chan looking at the passing nightblossoms, his body wanting to stop and stare at them. As much as she wants to let him do so, she can't. She can't allow him to get deep in his head that he forgets to eat and stare off into space again. She can't allow that to happen. Not again. 

She pulls him along. 

It's not long until she sees the muted brown in the distance. They're here. 

The Daemon House looks like Jaebum's pack house with soft blue walls and thick pieces of white siding on them. A small garden sits out front, flowers of all sorts of colors swaying gently in the breeze. But there's not much to see as a massive reddish brown wolf sits out front with someone dressed in blues and white sitting on the canine. Both creatures look to them, the wolf's tail thumping on the ground. 

The person stands on the wolf before jumping down and rushing towards them with a bright smile on his face. He looks younger than the last time Yoohyeon saw him, and a little shorter (but please, if Yoohyeon actually tells that to Hwanwoong, she will get her ass beat.). 

"Hello!" Hwanwoong says cheerfully as Mingi takes a few moments to shift. "We've been expecting you. Mingi hasn't shut up since the last time." 

Yoohyeon laughs. "It's only been a month." 

"Please, you've lived with your brother. He's obnoxious when it comes to things like that." 

"I suppose you do have a point." 

"I always have a point, Yoohyeon." 

Yoohyeon snorts into her hand. How Mingi fell in love with him, Yoohyeon will never know. 

Her father stands a little straighter and tries to smile. "How is everything?" 

"Dad!" Mingi shouts, rushing over. 

Yoohyeon scrambles to let go but her father holds onto her tightly causing the three of them to fall on the ground. Jongho, being her little shit of a twin, just snorts. 

"You are idiots," he snickers. 

"And you're the biggest idiot of all," Yunho snickers back from behind everyone. 

Yoohyeon doesn't even try to look, her gaze just looking up at the sky. She watches the clouds roll by, and vaguely listens to the chattering around him. There are rocks digging into his back but for some reason she finds herself not caring. 

She closes her eyes, just for a short moment. 

I wish Daddie could be happy, she thinks. Please if someone is listening, make my father smile again.

All is silent. 

Her world fades to black, before a burst of colour goes everywhere. The first thing that she sees is gold followed by a smile and a blue house. The person stands with his hands on his hips, rolling his eyes as he watches her from afar. His lips are moving but she can't hear anything, she never does when it comes to her visions. 

She doesn't have to look anywhere else to know what's happening. 

Her eyes snapped open and sounds return. 

"-eon! Yoohyeon!" Jongho shouts in her face. She sees worried eyes and his mouth opened like he's going to yell again. She shoves him aside. 

"Daddie come!" she shouts, pushing herself off the ground. Checking on Anne's seal is going to have to wait. Her estranged aunt isn't more important than this. 

She hears her name being called behind her but she doesn't stop running. 

Her father always talks about how cruel Fate is and how much he hates it. But while, yes, Fate is cruel and it tears people apart, Fate is also kind and forgiving. Fate brings people together to create the best possible world that people can create. It's not just a human thing, Fate, it's an everyone thing. And Fate finally listened.

Jaebum's pack house comes into view but her gaze isn't taking in the house surrounded by the wood nor is it fully taking in the wolves milling about. Nope, her gaze is on the man who stands outside of the house, talking to Jaebum. Jaebum looks shell-shocked, but his lips form a smile. 

Yoohyeon stops running. 

This isn't her reunion. It's his. 

Someone stands next to her, breathing a little heavily. She doesn't need to turn her head to see. She already knows from the picked up breath and the gasp that leaves his mouth. 

The man talking to Jaebum turns, gold eyes wide in surprise before they flicker with recognition. He smiles at them and does a little wave. 

"Hey squish," Changbin says. "Did you know that pink clouds don't taste like cotton candy?" 

Chan runs. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and this is the end! thank you so very much for reading and i hope you enjoyed! i hope there wasn't too many mistakes but if you did, i am sorry. 
> 
> if you couldn't tell, one of the main themes of this fic (or really the theme of the beginning of the fic) was, "even though you don't remember, your heart and your soul does". i don't know the actual quote but it's something that i always hear within my animes. 
> 
> and speaking of which. the title of this fic comes from a quote said by meliodas in nanatsu no taizai and the quote goes "no matter what lies you tell, you can't fool your own heart". perfect time is the best ost for this song as it's basically all i listened to... well that and florian bur's this is africa. why? well.... i dunno. 
> 
> but anyways, once again thank you so much for reading and thank you to the mods for hosting such a wonderful fest.


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